I Can't Do This Again
by ilovecartoonsgirl
Summary: The first time Sans saw Frisk die, he was confused. The second time Frisk was killed, Sans was relieved, unnerved, and somewhat hopeful. The third time...well, let's just say Sans the Skeleton was actually hoping there wasn't going to be a third time.
1. Chapter 1

**I don't own Undertale. Why, do you think I'm Toby Fox or something? ;)**

 **Promises, Grief, and Hatred**

The first time I saw the human kid, I was wary of them. How could I not be? Their hardened eyes were tinged with a creepy red, their face was completely expressionless, and they didn't laugh at the ole whoopee-cushion-in-the-hand trick. The kid just had an air of serious trouble hanging about them.

But because I promised the lady on the other side of the door that I would protect any humans that came through here, I didn't laid a hand on them. Even though I swore I heard something like a cry of pain from the ruins not moments before I met the kid. Even though I was pretty sure I saw the imprint of what looked like a knife hilt beneath their sweater. I didn't kill them because a promise was a promise, and I had no choice but to keep once I gave my word.

When they started killing monsters left and right though, I was reminded why I didn't like to make promises. But what done was done, and I couldn't go back on my word, even though I actually wanted to. Just because I knew that we were all under the curse of the blasted reset button didn't mean that I wanted to see my fellow monsters die. But it also meant that I knew that they will come back once time has been reset. I guess that knowledge also made me somewhat complacent and distant. But only somewhat.

So instead of killing the human murderer and saving a lot of monster lives, I just waited in my room, anxiety and fear making my stomach churn. I wasn't afraid for myself, but for my friends and my brother. _Especially_ my brother. While Papyrus may be a bit narcissistic, he was the most caring and loving skeleton you could ever meet. And if that wasn't enough, he was also my cool baby brother and I didn't want him to get hurt at all.

But despite my cautionary words and subtle pleading for him to stay away from the kid, Papyrus went to meet them anyway. Papyrus still somehow believed that they could still be a good person if someone would just show them the way. My brother was just pure-hearted like that.

I didn't want to see Papyrus' confrontation with the human because I knew that my heart and stomach wouldn't be able to take it so instead, I just waited. And waited. Hoping with all my soul that Papyrus would survive, either by defeating the kid or the kid sparing him. I knew the former most likely would never happen because Papyrus was a teddy bear so I placed my bets on the latter. Even though that was really unlikely too.

It was only when I had waited for about five hours did I muster up the courage to leave the house and search for my brother. After about ten minutes of walking with shaking legs and a rapidly beating heart, I reached the place where Papyrus was going to talk to the kid. Neither of them were there, but the place still wasn't empty. Because long with the snow, trees, and nearby river, there was a single pile of dust. And Papyrus's scarf was right on top.

It has been said that when a person's loved one dies, the person's feels like their world stopped turning or worse, just ended altogether. Well, as I look at my brother's remains, I didn't feel like my world was ending. It _literally_ ended for me. The next hour or so was a bit of a blur for me, but I do remember my heart breaking in half and sobbing into Papyrus' scarf. I also remember crying out Papyrus's name many times, like I expected him to cry my name back. I guess I did because each time I was met with only utter silence, my agonized soul took a beating.

After that, I followed the blasted kid, Papyrus' scarf tied securely around my neck and unshed tears in my eye-sockets. I desperately wanted to kill the kid now. By now, I knew for certain they had the power to reset and the save/load file. I really wanted fight the kid till they were so frustrated that they would reset. It was the only way I would be able to see my brother again after all. But I couldn't because of my promise to the old lady. And since I am a hundred percent sure she's dead too, I really didn't want to go against a wish of hers. All I could do was follow them the best I can and hope that they will have a change of heart and reset on their own.

But that didn't mean I had to go out of my way to protect them. So I kept a close eye-socket on them, judging their actions and hoping with all of my broken heart that they will die. But they didn't get killed. In fact, they just kept on killing all the monsters, including those who wanted mercy. Even Undyne died, though from what I saw the fight, she gave it her absolute best and died a hero. It still hurt to see her go though.

As the human kept on murdering my people, I really wanted to stop the kid, save my fellow monsters and friends, avenge my brother, and end the genocide. But I couldn't. Whether it was because of my promise or I just didn't arrive at the fight in time, I couldn't help. I could only desperately hope that the madness would end soon.

But then they were close to entering the Judgement Hall, clearly intending to kill Asgore. At that moment, I knew I just couldn't afford to stay hidden in the shadows anymore. I just couldn't afford stay back and hope that everything will be fine once they reset. Because it won't. The kid's hands was so covered with dust that I knew that even when they reset, their actions will still effect the next timeline. And in the worst way possible.

So I met them in the Judgement Hall, and warned them to not take a step forward. But they did, wearing an insane smile and their eyes now fully that creepy red color. And even though I was sorry that I had to break my promise, I was also in a way, happy. Okay, maybe happy is the wrong word. More like it just felt _really_ good to finally let my rage go and give the wolf in sheep's clothing what they _rightfully_ deserved.

So I attacked them. The dirty brother killer fought back, but I knew that they were having trouble. They got hit by my bones Gaster Blasters many times and even though they swung that dusty knife at me many times, I didn't get hit. As the fight went on, the kid's creepy smile turned into a frustrated frown while my vengeful smile turned into one that also had some satisfaction.

Then finally, just when I was starting to sweat from me using so much energy, the kid got mortally wounded and they didn't have any food left to heal them. Instead of feeling closure though, I just sighed. Because even though I had avenged my dear brother and my friends, I knew that the kid could just load a save. Which meant that I very well could fight the evil monster again.

But that was okay, because I will just wait for them here in the Judgement Hall again. And I will fight and kill them again, and I will keep slaughtering them till they give up and reset out of frustration. Only then would I be able to see Papyrus again. Only then would I be able eat his spaghetti, hear him nagging about my laziness, annoy him with my puns, and read him bedtime stories again. Only then would I be able to see my cool brother smile again.

As I silently cried, I noticed something strange. As the kid got closer and closer to dying, the creepy red color began to leave their eyes. It didn't leave altogether, but enough so that I could see some of the brown color that their eyes used to have. But that wasn't the only strange thing that I noticed. Their smile was also strange. A smile that wasn't full of insanity, but instead was full of sadness, regret, and relief.

Then the kid took one last shaky breath and died, their eyes blank and unseeing. And I have to admit, I was confused. Confused to why their eyes were changing color, and now that I think about it, why they changed color in the first place. But most of all, I was confused to why such a humane smile was on such a _real_ monster's face.

However, before I could even try to figure out why, everything went black and before I knew it, I was in an empty Judgement Hall. Looks like the kid had decided he hadn't had enough of a bad time.

 **So...what do you think? Did I portray emotions well? What do you think I am going with this? This is my first Undertale fic, and I hope I wrote Sans well. There will be one or two more chapters (most likely two) and the next one will have actual dialogue if you really like dialogue. Depending on the responses I get, I will update reasonably soon. So till then, PLEASE review and Happy Thanksgiving!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Wow, thanks for all the reviews, follows, and favorites! As promised, here is the next chapter!**

 **Guest: I'm really glad you did!**

 **I don't own Undertale.**

 **Truth, Family, and Retribution**

Sure enough, the kid came back to the Judgement Hall, a knife in their hand and wearing a frustrated and angry expression. That humane smile they wore before they died was long gone, replaced by an insane smirk. Their eyes were fully red again too, with no trace of the nice brown color had even been there. However, that being said, I couldn't help but notice that the red eyes weren't as bright as they were before.

Then the kid took a step forward and I couldn't afford to think about their strange eyes anymore. Just to antagonize them, I called them out on their frustration and gave them the same 'kids like you should be burning in Hell' spiel. Maybe it wasn't smart to antagonize a human demon, but man was it fun to get under their skin. Especially after what they did to my precious brother and friends.

Then once again, I attacked them with a flurry of bones, blue magic, and my Gaster Blasters. And once again, they dodged with difficulty and tried to hit me. Only to fail each and every time, making them more and more frustrated. But I did have to admit with some queasiness that they were dodging my attacks better. Not much, but enough that they were lasting longer than the previous time.

I figured that either they had gotten a bit stronger from fighting me before or that they were slightly reading my attacks better since they've gone through them once before. Either way wasn't good, especially if they don't give up trying to kill me. But it was still okay, because I wasn't going to stop trying to get the human demon to reset either. And besides, I still had plenty of tricks up my sleeve. In fact, as I felt two sweat drops appear on my skull, I decided I was going to use one of them now.

Because as I gave them my 'timeline anomalies and how I can't afford not to care anymore' spiel while fighting them, I noticed that the red in their eyes began to dull even more. This didn't happen the last time I told them how hopeless I felt with all the resets making the attempts to go to the surface meaningless. But then, the kid died before I could tell them how I knew that if they continued on their bloody path, the next timeline would be horrible too. Still, I couldn't shake the suspicion that had been growing in my mind since I saw that sad smile.

"Ugh…that being said…" I said as exhaustion started to enter my bones. "You, uh, really like swinging that thing around, huh?" I continued. The kid didn't answer, but the red in their eyes receded just a tiny bit more. This time, I could see a glimmer of the warm brown.

"…Listen. I know you didn't answer me before but…somewhere in there. I can feel it. There's a glimmer of a good person inside of you," I truthfully stated. After all, how else could a _monster_ feel sadness and regret? Why else would an insane demon's eyes switch from red to brown and back again?

"The memory of someone who once wanted to do the right thing. Someone who, in another time, might have even been…a friend?" Okay, it really disgusted my nonexistent stomach to say those last two words. But, it very well could be true. Because while I knew about the resets, I didn't remember everything that had happened in past timelines. I truly could have been this demon's good friend. I doubt it since I think I would have remembered being friends with a human, but I had to admit it was possible.

"C'mon, buddy. Do you remember me? Please, if you're listening…let's forget all this, ok?" The human's smirk actually began to falter and the brown in their eyes began to be more prevalent. Like they believed that I was telling the truth. Like I could ever forget seeing them killing my friends and fellow monsters. Like I could ever forget seeing Papyrus's scarf on a pile of dust and the heartbreak afterwards.

"Just lay down your weapon, and…well, my job will be a lot easier." My job of killing the kid that is. Because while I knew that the human had some good in them, I wasn't stupid. The kid had killed too many monsters and had caused too much heartbreak for them to live. And besides, killing them was the only way to see my friend Undyne and the other monsters again. The only way to see my brother again.

At that moment, the kid's insane and frustrated smirk faltered even more as the hand holding the knife began to shake. The brown in their eyes also tried to become more prevalent as the red tried to wash over the brown completely. It was like the kid was fighting with themselves.

Then it happened. The brown color in their eyes won the fight, pushing the red color back to the very edge of the eyeballs. The smirk disappeared completely, to be replaced with a sad and relieved smile. And the hand holding the knife stopped shaking and purposely dropped the dusty knife, making a huge clatter on the floor.

"You're sparing me?" I asked, admittedly a bit stunned that the kid actually fell for my lies, as well as the struggle the kid had with himself. But I quickly got over it and continued.

"Finally. Buddy. Pal. I know how hard it must be…to make that choice." While I felt a bit sick about calling the person who killed my brother that, I didn't lie about the hard choice bit. Their struggle was clearly tough. But even though I had acknowledged it, I was still going to kill them. And I will keep on killing them till they become so frustrated that they reset. I had to.

"To go back on everything you've worked up to. I want you to know…I won't let it go to waste." And I wouldn't. This trick was only going to work once, so I had to go through with it. So with one eye closed, I held out my arms. "C'mere, pal."

And before I knew it, the kid was in my arms, hugging me tightly like they were desperate for comfort. A part of me actually wanted comfort them and wipe the tears that were beginning to fall from their eyes. But then the memory of Papyrus' scarf lying on a pile of dust flashed through my mind. I couldn't afford to spare the demon who didn't have the heart to spare my only brother.

"GEEETTTTTTT DUNKED ON!" I yelled as I pushed the kid away from me while I summoned a whole bunch of bones to appear above the kid. And in the very next instant, the bones flew straight down. Straight down till they had gone through the human's chest.

But then, to my great astonishment, instead of dying immediately or at the very least, looking betrayed and angry, the kid just laughed. It wasn't a spiteful laugh, but a genuine one. It was raspy of course but I couldn't deny the relief I heard in it.

"T-Thank you…" the kid stuttered with the same humane smile I saw the last time we fought. I couldn't help but gasp. Because not only was I hearing the silent kid talk, they were _thanking_ me for killing them.

"I-I…accidently killed the dummy a-and…the f-first froggit I m-met…I didn't m-mean to…I was just t-trying to defend m-myself…I-I really d-didn't want to h-hurt anybody…I still don't. B-But…after I killed the f-froggit…there was a voice…i-it belonged to a soul named C-Chara. And before I-I knew it…Chara had taken me over."

"C-Chara just wanted to kill…and k-kill…I t-tried to take m-my body over…but I wasn't s-strong e-enough…then Chara fought you. You were…the first m-monster that…gave Chara trouble and t-they were…frustrated b-because of it. B-Because of that…I was able to r-regain my body…and b-because they're…frustrated that y-you killed u-us…I will be a-able to still h-have control w-when we go back to the s-save point. A-And I will…reset and m-make…it right…I…p-promise…"

And with that monologue, the kid finally died. A small smile on their face and their blank eyes more brown than ever before. Just like last time, I didn't give a victory cheer. But unlike last time, I wasn't confused. Instead, I was feeling unnerved. Unnerved because the name of the soul that supposedly possessed the kid was the same as Asgore's dead human kid. Unnerved because there was no way the human could've learned that name, unless they had been telling the truth.

Which meant that the struggle I saw wasn't insanity fighting against a conscience, but two souls fighting for control of a human body. Which meant that the brown eyes and the humane smile was the kid breaking through. Which meant that my brother and my friends were slaughtered by a possessed kid, a kid that I had just killed twice. Which meant that the kid was serious about keeping their promise.

"If we're really friends," I finally said, with my hands in my pockets and an unsure heart. "Then don't come back."

As soon as I said those words, everything went black. Afraid of what room I was going to find myself in, I closed my eye-sockets. Hoping with all of my soul that the kid was going to keep their promise. I know it was unlikely, but after what the kid said, I couldn't help but think that it was possible that they were going to reset.

"SAAANSS!" My heart skipped a beat at the familiar voice. I immediately opened my eye-sockets and found myself in my room. Not the Judgement Hall waiting for another battle with the kid. But in my very dirty room that Papyrus desperately wanted me to clean.

"WAKE UP THIS INSTANT YOU LAZY BONES!" cried the loud and beautiful voice of my brother. "IF YOU DON'T, I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL COME UP THERE AND FORCEFEED YOU YOUR BREAKFAST! WHICH IS SPAGHETTI WITH THOSE COOL BOWTIE NOODLES!"

I could have cried. In fact, I did as I did something else I would never have done in a normal situation. I ran. I raced out of my room and down the stairs, too much in a hurry to see my brother to be concern about breaking my bones. I did briefly think about teleporting about then I brushed it aside. Because I was almost there anyway and besides, there are some things you just want to run to.

As I turned and raced into the kitchen, I saw him. Papyrus, the tall cool-looking skeleton that he was, was by the stove stirring a pot of sauce that looked a bit black. My brother then turned around, wearing a surprised yet pleased expression.

"WOWIE SANS, I…" Papyrus wasn't able to get another word out because instead of stopping at the kitchen doorway, I kept on running and jumped on him. As soon as I was on him, I hugged my dear brother tightly as I dug my very wet face into the crook of his shoulder.

"P-Papyrus…" I managed stuttered through my heaving sobs. I felt my brother stiffen with shock underneath me and I understood why. Never before have I rushed at my brother like this and sobbed like there was no tomorrow. I was the older brother after all, and older brothers weren't supposed to let their younger brothers see them be an emotional wreck.

But I couldn't help it. Because after days of being brother-less and feeling nothing but agonizing grief and rage, it just felt _so_ good and _relieving_ to see my beloved brother again. To hear Papyrus speak, to feel him hold me, to know that he was _alive_ again. To know that the kid really did keep their promise and reset.

"I…I m-missed you…" I said as my pure relief and joy continued to overwhelm me. "D-Don't…leave me again…p-please…" I knew as I pleaded with my precious and dear baby brother even though I knew that it was a promise that he may not be able to keep. That the kid very well could have reset only to kill Papyrus and everyone else again.

But I had a feeling that if the kid could reset after only dying twice by my hands, they could also as they said, make things right. What they meant by that exactly, I wasn't sure. Maybe they planned to be our friends and not kill a single monster. Or heck, maybe they even planned to save all of us by breaking the barrier and bring us to the surface.

Whatever it was, I didn't care at that moment. My brother was in my arms again and I wasn't ever going to lose him. Both my soul and heart wouldn't be able to take it if the kid murdered them again. But I somehow had hope that wasn't going to happen.

"OF COURSE BROTHER," said my kind and gentle brother as he hugged me back, his body not stiff anymore. "IT'S HARD TO BE AWAY FROM ME, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, FOR LONG HUH?" As I snuggled more into my brother's warm embrace, I couldn't help but think Papyrus had no idea how true that was.

 **Yay...things are going to be alright again...right? So, what do you think? Was this chapter written as well as the last one? Were the emotions and the things the characters did believable? What were your reactions to this chapter? Please tell me (review) and I will update next week. Thanks for being great readers and have a good weekend!**


	3. Chapter 3

**I SO SORRY that I took so long to update! But with work, a bad cold, my birthday, writter's block, and just life happening, I couldn't update till now. I just hope it was worth the wait!**

 **And also, this isn't going to be a three-shot anymore. It's going to be...a longer story I guess. Not sure how long it's going to be yet.**

 **Lao: I admit, I wasn't planning for Sans to react to Papyrus like that. But when I got to that part, I couldn't help but write a tearful reunion. I think that in this story, Sans isn't _that_ experienced with resets, _and_ it was his first time having his brother die. So him running to Papyrus doesn't sound that far fetch to me. And besides, while you're right in saying that Sans keeps his emotions bottled up, he can't bottled them up all the time. But thank you for your comments! :)**

 **I don't own Undertale. If I did, my name will be Toby Fox. Which it isn't.**

 **Hope**

To my surprise, I didn't see the kid walking through the door that day, or the day after that. I guess maybe they just needed a rest after the merciless beatings I gave them. In any case, I was grateful for the break. Because after days of being brother-less and friendless, I needed to rest too. Well, if one counts reading Papyrus his bedtime story and eating his slightly toxic spaghetti as resting. Which I did.

Then, two days after the kid used their power to reset time, I heard them. I was leaning backwards against the door leading to the Ruins when I heard two different voices. Though I couldn't make out the words, I knew that one of them belonged to my old lady friend. And the other, even though I hadn't heard much of it in the last timeline, I knew belonged to the kid.

"But which one?" I muttered to myself as anxiety began to wrap its icy hands around my heart. Which one was behind the door? The one who promised me that they would make things right again? Or the one who was clearly insane and whose hands were covered with my brother's dust?

While I still had hope that the former was the one behind the door, I couldn't deny that the latter was also possible. Very possible. So with a nervous gulp, I stood up and walked into the woods on my left. If the murderer had returned, I didn't want to hear them killing the old lady. I may be a coward, but I just couldn't hear my friend cry out in pain again. My soul wouldn't be able to take it.

After a few tense, silent minutes, the door opened. And for the first time in two days, I saw the kid. Immediately the feeling of apprehension made it hard for me to breathe. But despite that, I looked at their hands. There wasn't any dust on their soft pale hands. Without giving myself time to think, I looked at their face. Instead of an emotionless face, they were wearing a genuine determined smile. And there was no trace of the creepy red color in their eyes. Just a warm brown color.

As the kid looked around curiously after closing the door, I couldn't help but feel relieved. This was the human who wore that humane smile when I first killed them, the one who was glad that I stopped their, or Chara's, genocide run. The one who had given me hope that maybe us monsters will have our happy ending after all. The one who had given me hope that I wouldn't have to wear my brother's scarf as a memento again.

Then the kid walked towards the bridge and I knew that my time of hiding in the woods had come to an end. So just like in the last timeline, I left the woods and followed them, making sure to keep my steps silent as I walked. Then, also just like last time, the kid stopped at the edge of the bridge, giving me time to catch up to them.

"Human. Don't you know how to greet a new pal?" I asked slowly. "Turn around and shake my hand." Like last time, they then turned around and shook my hand when I held it out. But unlike last time, when the whoopee cushion went off, they laughed. In fact, they laughed so hard that I couldn't help but chuckle as well.

"Heheh…the old whoopee cushion in the hand trick. It's always funny."

"Definitely!" agreed the human, their voice and eyes portraying their sincerity. For a brief moment, the memory of when they didn't react at to the whoopee cushion played through my mind.

"Anyways, you're a human, right?" I said with a shake of my head. There was no point in going down that horrible memory lane. Especially when it was clear that this kid was different from the last one. "That's hilarious. I'm Sans. Sans the skeleton."

As soon as I lied about humans being hilarious, I was tempted to let out a dark chuckle. The only reason I didn't is because I didn't want to terrify the kid, which just might push them towards the edge of insanity. My brother's life were still in their hands after all. And besides…the kid hasn't done anything to deserve being terrified by me. Yet.

"I'm Frisk!" the human exclaimed. Ah, so that's what their name is. Last time they, or Chara, barely talked at all, let alone tell me what they went by. In response to this new information, I nodded, still wearing my trademark smile.

"I'm actually supposed to on watch for humans right now. But…y'know…I don't really care about capturing anybody." Like last time, I didn't tell them that the reason why was because I promised my old lady friend that I would protect any human that came here. That story was for another time.

"Now my brother, Papyrus…he's a human-hunting _fanatic_ ," I continued, successfully not letting my new-found nervousness show in my face or voice. Then, right on cue, I saw my beloved tall brother in the distance. "Hey, actually, I think that's him over there. I have an idea. Go through this gate thingy."

"You're sure?" Frisk asked, sounding slightly nervous and uneasy. Which made sense, since because of…their body, Papyrus was murdered in cold blood. Heck, that's why I was nervous, even though I knew that this kid actually was a human.

"Yeah, go right through," I assured them, even though the thought of having them near my brother again was terrifying. But I had to give them a chance. How else would they make good on their promise?

"My bro made the bars too wide to stop anyone," I added. I then smirked as I thought of my precious brother, who wanted to catch a human yet was too kind to actually trap them. Frisk, with trusting brown eyes, then nodded with a knowing smile. Then together, we walked past the bars and onwards till we came upon the lamp and my sentry post.

"Quick, behind that conveniently-shaped lamp." Why such a lamp was there in the first place, I would never know. Maybe the God of Fate or something put it there as a kind of joke. A joke, which I had to admit, was actually kind of funny.

"Right!" Frisk harshly whispered as they hurriedly ran towards the lamp and hid behind it. Another thing that was different from last time. But before I could muse on that fact, Papyrus arrived.

"Sup, bro?" I asked, still wearing my trademark smile. Instead of smiling back, my brother just gave me an agitated expression.

"YOU KNOW WHAT 'SUP,' BROTHER!" Papyrus exclaimed. Oh, he didn't ask me whether I had found a human. Cool, another thing to add on the differences list. "IT'S BEEN EIGHT DAYS AND YOU STILL HAVEN'T…RECABILRATED. YOUR. PUZZLES! YOU JUST HANG AROUND OUTSIDE YOUR STATION! WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING?!"

"Staring at this lamp. It's really cool. Do you wanna look?" I asked with a sideway glance at the lamp. I then had to suppress a chuckle when Papyrus immediately started to repeatedly stomp his foot on the fresh snow. I only wished that I could see Frisk's reaction too, because it just had to be priceless.

"NO! I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THAT! WHAT IF A HUMAN COMES THROUGH HERE!? I WANT TO BE READY! I WILL BE THE ONE! I MUST BE THE ONE! I WILL CAPTURE A HUMAN!" declared my brother. Then he stopped stomping and struck a heroic and cool pose, his red scarf flying behind him.

"THEN I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS…WILL GET ALL THE THINGS I UTTERLY DESERVE! RESPECT…RECOGNITION…I WILL FINALLY BE ABLE TO JOIN THE ROYAL GUARD! PEOPLE WILL ASK, TO, BE MY, 'FRIEND?'" I heard Frisk give a small and barely audible gasp right after that last part. Luckily, Papyrus was too involve in his declaration to hear it. Let alone hear the sympathetic edge to the gasp.

"I WILL BATHE IN A SHOWER OF KISSES EVERY MORNING," Papyrus finished, before ending his pose and facing me.

"Hmm…maybe this lamp will help you," I said truthfully. But as I expected, Papyrus faced away from me and began to repeatedly stomp the ground again.

"SANS! YOU'RE NOT HELPING! YOU LAZYBONES!" he exclaimed. My heart immediately hitched a tiny bit as the memory of seeing my brother's scarf lying on the pile of dust flashed through my mind. Maybe if I hadn't been so lazy, Papyrus might have lived back then.

"ALL YOU DO IS SIT AND BOONDOGGLE! YOU GET LAZIER AND LAZIER EVERY DAY!" he continued. Seeing that it was time for me to respond again, I shook my skull slightly to clear my brain of the what-if's. Then I smiled even more.

"Hey, take it easy. I've gotten a _ton_ of work done today," I said. Then I took the much-needed pause. "A skele- _ton_."

"SANS!" cried my smiling brother, sounding very outraged, which of course made me chuckle. And to my genuine surprise, I heard Frisk chuckle as well. So they like puns. Good for them.

"Come on. You're smiling," I pointed out.

"I AM AND I HATE IT!" Papyrus admitted. "SIGH, WHY DOES SOMEONE AS GREAT AS ME…HAVE TO DO SO MUCH JUST TO GET SOME RECOGNITION…"

"Wow, sounds like you're really working yourself…" Another much need pause. "Down to the bone." Again, I heard another muffled chuckle coming from the human, and again Papyrus didn't hear it.

"UGH! I WILL ATTEND TO MY PUZZLES…AS FOR YOUR WORK? PUT A LITTLE MORE, 'BACKBONE' INTO IT!" Papyrus finally joked with a sincere grin. "NYEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE!" And with that Papyrus left the stage, before suddenly coming back.

"HEH!" Then Papyrus left the snowy stage again.

"Ok, you can come out now," I said once it was clear that Papyrus wasn't coming back. The human then came out, a delighted grin on their face.

"You were hilarious!" Frisk declared as they laughed. I studied their face and was admittedly a tiny bit stunned when I saw the clear sincerity in their brown eyes. Frisk really was a different person than the murderer in the last timeline.

"You oughta get going. He might come back. And if he does…" I told them after a small chuckle of my own. "…you'll have to sit through more of my hilarious jokes." Frisk then nodded and started to leave, if checking out the lamp and my sentry post counted as leaving.

As they dawdled, I remembered how last time I requested them to pretend to be a human for my brother's sake. Because while I was wary of Frisk, or Chara, at that time, I also wanted my lonely younger brother to be happy. It was my purpose in life after all. And bygone it seeing my brother genuinely smile still was my purpose.

"Actually, hey…" I said just as Frisk was about to finally leave. "Hate to bother ya, but can you do me a favor?"

"Sure, what is it?" they asked as they turned around, their brown eyes expectant and curious. Once again, I had a flashback of seeing my brother's pile of dust. I shook my head and told myself that it was going to be different this time. Frisk is a nice kid with a good sense of humor _and_ she felt sorry for Papyrus when he made it clear that all he really wanted was friends.

"I was thinking…my brother's been kind of down lately…he's never seen a human before. And seeing you just might make his day. Don't worry, he's not dangerous. Even if he tries to be."

"Of course!" exclaimed Frisk, whose voice had an excited edge to it. "He sounds and looks really cool! I would love to be his friend!" I studied their face and couldn't deny that their smile was sincere. Things were going to turn out different this time. They had to be.

"Thanks a million," I replied. "I'll be up ahead." I then left the other way and took a shortcut to where my brother was. During the next hour or so, I watched as Frisk met my brother and solved his puzzles with a smile on their face and determination in their eyes. Unlike last time, they actually seemed to enjoy solving them _and_ were intent on making Papyrus happy. Frisk even said that they thought junior jumbles were harder than crosswords just to appease him.

Which worked of course. As I hoped, Papyrus became happier and happier as the hour went on. And if Papyrus is happy, I'm happy. However, even though I was glad that my brother and Frisk seemed to be becoming really good friends, I just couldn't get rid of my anxiety. Blame it on emotional trauma, but as the kid got closer and closer to Snowdin, those painful memories of finding the remains of my brother became more and more frequent.

So when Frisk was only a few feet away from Snowdin, it took all of my self-control to not tell the kid to stay far away from Papyrus. I had to remind myself that they didn't kill any of the monsters in Snowdin and that they sincerely liked my brother. I had to convince myself that they weren't suddenly going to go insane again and turn on Papyrus. That I have to keep my promise and give Frisk a chance to keep their own promise to me.

So instead of threatening the kid or anything like that, I warned the kid about blue attacks. After that, I went back to my house where Papyrus was getting ready for their fated upcoming fight. He asked me if I wanted to watch them fight, but I declined since like last time, I didn't have the stomach to just be a bystander. Unlike last time though, I wished them luck instead of warning them. Not long after that, Papyrus left, leaving me alone in our big house.

Once again, I found myself in my room, waiting anxiously as butterflies made my stomach churn like butter in those old-timey wooden things. I found myself hoping that I was just letting my past experiences cloud my thinking, and that Frisk really will spare my brother. That they really were the nice, funny, and merciful kid that they seemed to be. That they weren't possessed by an insane spirit this time.

Then, after a half hour of waiting silently, I heard a very beautiful sound. I heard the front door slam open and close. And right after that, an even more beautiful sound ran all the way from the front door to my room.

"SANS! THE HUMAN AND I ARE GOING TO HAVE A DATE HERE SOON! JUST SO YOU KNOW!" exclaimed Papyrus, sounding very excited and happy. Frisk did it. They spared my brother. My brother was still alive.

Relief immediately replacing my anxiety and fear, I stood up and left my room. I then walked to the banister and leaned on it as I looked down at my precious brother. Papyrus looked up at me, a beaming smile on his face. Looks like I really did the right thing in asking Frisk to let my brother see him. Thank goodness.

"Cool," I replied with a sincere smile as renewed hope filled my soul.

 **So...how was that? Did it make sense that Sans will be hopeful yet be anxious? Was any of the characters OOC or the ending rushed? How did you feel about this chapter as a whole? Please tell me in a review (don't worry, I love all kinds of reviews. They taste like nice cream) and I will update...soon. Holidays are coming up after all. Maybe if I get a lot of reviews I will be determined to update very quickly. In any case, have a great weekend.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Finally, the next chapter is up! I am sorry for the long wait and I hope that this chapter is up to par with the others.**

 **I don't own Undertale.**

 **Dreams**

As I walked back towards my house, a small voice told me that I shouldn't go there. That I had to turn around and follow the kid. And while I knew that the voice had a point, my heart couldn't obey it. I had something very important to do, and there was no way I was going to put it off till later. Papyrus deserved that much at least from his good-for-nothing brother.

Before I knew it, I was at my front door. With a slightly trembling bony hand, I took my key from my coat pocket and unlocked the creaky door. Instantly, I remembered Papyrus saying that he was going to ask Undyne if her Royal Scientist could invent some anti-creaking door oil that could stop the front door from creaking forever.

My eye-sockets started to tear up at the memory but after I closed my eyes for a bit, I somehow managed to push those tears down. I had a very delicate job to do, and I couldn't afford to have watery and salty tears ruin it.

So with a shaky deep breath, I walked into the kitchen. As I looked around our orange-and-mahogany themed kitchen, a flashback of Papyrus humming some popular tune while he boiled the spaghetti noodles to mush ran through my mind. It took longer for me to regain control over my emotions this time. But I did it. Somehow.

Then before I could break down again, I opened the plastic bag that I had been clutching in my left hand the whole time. With a greatly shaking hand, I reached into it and grabbed a small handful of the contents. My body trembling and my heart screaming at the injustice of it all, I gently rubbed my brother's dust on Papyrus' favorite silver saucepan.

I did the same with the fridge, Papyrus' boiling pot, the stovetop, the counter and our very tall sink. He loved this room so much and it was painful to know that never again will he cook in here, trying his best to make the best spaghetti ever. But at least some of his essence will always be in this kitchen now, specifically on the objects that he treasured so greatly.

I was tempted to rub some of my brother's dust over the walls but I decided against it since I didn't have an unlimited supply of it. Papyrus loved other things besides this room after all, and I had to make sure to cover those too. So, feeling that it wouldn't be long till my next emotional breakdown, I took a shortcut to my brother's room.

Once there, I rubbed Papyrus' dust on his racecar bed, his supply of bones, his action figures, his bookshelf, his pirate flag, and his computer. By the time I was finished, I only had a little bit left. And I hated it, since there were so many more things that he loved, like the T.V. where he watched Mettaton's show and his cool puzzles.

But there was only enough dust to rub it on more thing, and I will never forgive myself if I didn't rub the last bit on Papyrus' most treasured item. So I got down on my knees and carefully set the bag down on the ground before unwrapping Papyrus' scarf from my neck. I then laid that on the floor and slowly rubbed the last of my brother's remains on it. My important job, to give my brother a small but great monster funeral, was done. I had the thought that I should say some words but I didn't know what to say. But then they came to me.

"I love you bro," I said, my broken voice sounding foreign even to my own ears. "And I'm…g-going…to m-miss…y-y-you…" I couldn't hold it in anymore. Just like when I found my brother's scarf on a pile of dust, I completely broke down and sobbed my heart out. If a black hole could be considered a heart.

This time though, I didn't just stayed there on my knees, crying out my brother's name like a broken record. Instead, with big fat tears rolling down my skull, I gently picked up the scarf and wrapped it around my neck again. Then I picked myself up and stumbled over to my brother's bed.

As I got on it, the small voice from before told me that I had to leave and follow the human. But just like last time, I ignored it as I got under the covers and curled up into a ball. Yes, I knew that the human was probably killing monsters right and left and that I should at least try to save them. That I did promised the old lady that I would watch over the kid, even though there was no way in the Underground I was going to go out of my way to protect them now.

But as I buried my head into Papyrus' pillow, I just couldn't make myself get up. My whole being was just too full of heart-wrenching agony for me to even really consider going after the kid now. And I had a feeling that even if I did, I would be too much of a mess to do anything. So I just laid there, crying like there was no tomorrow.

"Kid reset…please," I muttered through my tears and into the pillow. "I want my brother back…so please reset…"

"PLEASE!" Then suddenly, I wasn't in Papyrus' bed anymore. I was in my own, and instead of curled up in a ball, I was sitting up. Instead of sobbing, I was panting heavily, though there were tears running down my face and falling onto my lap. For a moment, I was utterly bewildered and confused. But then the moment ended and I realized what had happened.

"It was just a dream…" I sighed after I had stopped panting. "A dream of a terrible memory sure, but still just a dream. Papyrus is alive again and sleeping in the next room…unless I woke him up…" I waited a few moments and when I heard no worried footsteps rushing to my room, I breathed out a sigh of relief. Papyrus had a busy day today and I really didn't want to wake him up from a nice deep sleep.

Speaking of which, Frisk was on the couch downstairs, sleeping their own busy day off. They arrived at our house not long after Papyrus came back, and after exploring our house for a bit, the kid and Papyrus went into their room to have their date. Which, not to my surprise, did not end with them achieving a romantic relationship. But judging from what I managed to hear, they had a great and hilarious time and their friendship grew.

Which definitely did not happen last time, with the kid acting bloodthirsty and all. So as a reward for not killing my only brother and making him happy, I decided to take a shortcut to the kitchen. I didn't want to risk waking them up by going down the stairs after all. With that decision made, I got out of bed and a second later, I was right in front of the fridge. I sighed softly as I opened it and took out a bottle of ketchup.

Ever since the kid had reset time, I have been frequent nightmares. And while they were all different, they did have two things in common. All the nightmares were past memories and they were all horrible. When the kid came back and proved that they held Papyrus' best interests at heart, I thought that I might get a peaceful night tonight.

"But I guess not," I muttered before I took a swig from the ketchup bottle while closing the fridge door. "Maybe my nightmares are something only time can fix." But how long will they last? I have been _really_ lucky that Papyrus has yet to find out about my new nightly trips to get ketchup, let alone about my nightmares. But my luck can't last forever. Because once he finds out, Papyrus won't stop pestering me till I spill the beans about what happens in my dreams. And I can't tell him. I…I just _can't_.

"Sans?" asked a soft sleepy voice behind me. My heart instantly going into overdrive, I spun around only to find Frisk standing in the doorway, rubbing her eyes with her hands.

"Oh bucko, it's just you," I sighed with relief as my heart started to beat normally. Though now that I think about it, I didn't know what I was expecting. The voice was way too soft to belong to my cool brother and Chara doesn't talk.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," Frisk apologized as they looked at the ground. "I was awake and I heard someone opening the fridge and…I just wanted to see who it was."

"Don't worry, I don't get _rattled_ easily, but why are you awake?" I asked as I looked at the microwave clock. "It's 2:00 am. Kids like you should be asleep at this time." I was tempted to make a pun about sleeping like the dead since I was a skeleton, but then I had a flashback of spreading Papyrus' dust on his things. This was followed by the memory of the kid's body lying on the ground, my bones through their chest. So I decided that the joke would have been inappropriate and kept my mouth shut.

"I know but…I…" Frisk stuttered as they twiddled with their fingers, still looking at the ground. Then they looked up. "I had a nightmare."

For a moment, I sincerely didn't know what to say. I could only look at their brown eyes, which instead of being light and cheerful, were haunted. Like Frisk had seen things that they wished hadn't happened and those things were now weighing their soul down. And even though they tried their best to walk like their soul was light, there were times where their burdens were just too heavy to bear. Like now. Like me right after every nightmare.

"Come here kid," I sighed softly as I motioned Frisk forward with a finger. The kid hesitated for a second before rushing right at me. I made a small _oof_ as they jumped into my open arms and wrapped their small arms and legs tightly around me, but I didn't complain. Instead, I just adjusted them gently so that they were more comfortable in my arms and put the ketchup bottle on the counter.

As I walked to the couch, I couldn't help but feel that this situation was just a bit surreal. After all, it wasn't all that long ago when all I wanted was for this kid to die so they could reset. Heck, I even killed them twice in order to get my brother back. And now, I was comforting them because of a nightmare. Of course, I knew now that _Chara_ was the murdering psychopath in the last timeline, not Frisk. But since Chara had done those awful deeds in Frisk's body, it just felt weird to hold the kid in my arms like I wanted to protect _them_ from the world.

"Here we are," I muttered softly as I sat down on the couch. When I got us settled comfortably, I started to rub the kid's back. "It's gonna be okay…"

"Is it?" Frisk asked, their voice sounding awfully close to breaking. Once again, I was taken back. Not that they were close to crying or that they sounded so hopeless. But because they sounded like me at times. Did…did they have a nightmare of the last timeline like I did?

"Yeah," I said. After all, Frisk has made Papyrus happier than he has been in a while. They haven't fought any of the monsters they came across, let alone raise a hand against them. Frisk had laughed at my puns and claimed that Papyrus' slightly burnt spaghetti was the best. They also were genuinely happy and eager to accept my brother's offer to sleep here for the night so things have to be okay. I hope.

"But…I'm a bad kid," Frisk murmured. As soon as they said that, I recalled seeing the kid's emotionless face. I remembered finding my brother's remains and grieving heavily because of it. I recalled seeing the sight of many piles of dust everywhere. I remembered the red eyes and the insane smile as I faced them in the Judgment Hall. As the memories ran by in my brain, my body couldn't help but tense.

But then I glanced down. And instead of a red-eyed killer, I saw a small kid with teary brown eyes clutch my blue jacket like they were trying not to drown in despair and guilt. There was no doubt in my mind now, Frisk's dream was about the last timeline. And they obviously hadn't enjoyed it. At this thought, something inside of me relaxed, resulting in my tense body easing up. Then I sighed.

"Well, you have done a lot of good things lately," I finally said. "And if you want to keep on doing good things…what's stopping you? Just because you may…or may not have been a bad kid in the past doesn't mean you can't be a good kid right now or in the future."

For a moment, nothing happened. Then tears began to fall uncontrollably out of Frisk's eyes as they let out a low but deep sob. This sob was quickly followed by other sobs and tears as they dug their face into my chest, still clutching onto my jacket very tightly.

And even though my jacket and shirt were rapidly getting soaked, I didn't stop them. Instead, I just held them tighter and rubbed circles on their back as they cried. Because after all, I know what it is like to have a nightmare that brings great pain to your heart. So I continued to comfort them, even though Frisk technically is the reason for my own nightmares. Even though I admittedly was still just a bit wary of them.

 **Man...that beginning...and yay, Sans and Frisk have a moment! But...what do you guys think? Were Sans' actions/reactions/feelings believable/in character? Was the writing easy to read? Please tell me in a review and I will get back to you lovely followers next week (unless you all really REALLY want it by this weekend...) and have a good day/night!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Guest: Then I have done my job! MUHAHA! Seriously though, thank you and here's a tissue :)**

 **Thanks for all the reviews!**

 **I don't own Undertale.**

 **Grillby's**

We ended up sleeping like that, the kid curled up in my lap as I subconsciously held them tight, and my forehead resting on their fluffy brown hair. I definitely didn't plan on doing that so when I woke up to Papyrus taking a picture of us, my face instantly felt hot. Luckily, I got my magically blushing cheekbones under control before Papyrus could take a picture of an embarrassed Sans. Even more luckily, Frisk didn't wake up, even though Papyrus was still talking pretty loud, despite his attempts to keep it soft for the sleeping human.

Not wanting to disturb their sleep, I laid the kid carefully on the couch and placed my blue hoodie over them. I then left for Grillby's, after telling my brother where I was going in a form of a pun of course. It was only when I was outside did my brain finally caught up to what I just did.

"Why…why did I give my hoodie to them?" I wondered out loud as I stopped walking. I immediately racked my head but for the life of me I couldn't remember why I gave one of my favorite pieces of clothing to Frisk. Except that…it just seemed like the _right_ thing to do. Like it was something that I _wanted_ to do and not just because I felt empathy for the kid like last night.

"Oh well," I finally muttered as I shrugged my shoulders. "It's not like I pasted a sticky note on it telling them to keep it…" So without wasting another thinking about it, I continued my way to my favorite restaurant. Once there, I ordered some pancakes that were wonderfully free of spaghetti, which is more than I can say for the pancakes Papyrus was surely making right now. Poor kid. Then before I knew it, breakfast was over and I was at my front door.

"Hey Papyrus, I'm back for a few minutes before my Waterfall sentry job starts," I called out.

"OH HI SANS," Papyrus yelled as he stepped out of the kitchen with a wide smile and a skillet that was in the middle of getting washed. "GUESS WHAT?! THE HUMAN LOVED MY SPAGHETTI PANCAKES!"

"Of course they did bro," I said with my usual smile, inwardly thanking the kid for lying.

"OH I DIDN'T DOUBT THAT THEY WOULDN'T LOVED THE WONDERFUL BREAKFAST I HAD PREPARED BUT IT WAS STILL NICE TO HEAR IT!" exclaimed Papyrus as he scrubbed the skillet in the doorway, occasionally getting suds on the floor. I nodded in agreement as I looked around our living room, my eye-sockets stopping on the couch.

"Where's the kid?" I asked as I looked at my hoodie on the lumpy couch, folded and with a sticky note on top with the words 'Thank you so very much!' in very big print.

"OH, THE HUMAN SAID THEY HAD TO GET AN EARLY START SO THEY LEFT RIGHT AFTER BREAKFAST," explained Papyrus as they walked back into the kitchen. Well, that made sense, since there was still a long distance between them and Asgore. And since the Frisk definitely wasn't lazy, they might as well leave as soon as possible. Especially if they were serious about keeping their promise about making everything right again.

"ME AND THE HUMAN ARE SIMILAR LIKE THAT," continued Papryus from the kitchen as I walked over to the couch and slipped my hoodie back on. "AS SOON AS I GOT UP FROM MY NAP, I RAN ALL AROUND SNOWDIN AT LEAST SIX TIMES! I…I LOST COUNT AFTER SIX…" As I put the sticky note in my pocket, I couldn't help but giggle slightly. My brother really was the best skeleton ever.

"IN ANY CASE, IT WAS A GOOD THING I DID OR ELSE I WOULDN'T HAVE SEEN MY GOLDEN FLOWER FRIEND!"

Then suddenly and without any warning whatsoever, I felt dread and hatred overcome my soul. At the same time, an image of a small golden flower with a despicable evil face flashed through my mind. As a result, I gasped as I grabbed my head and my body shook slightly. Though whether it was because of the awful foreboding I was feeling or my abhorrence towards this flower I wasn't sure.

"What in the world…was that?" I asked quietly, even though I wasn't questioning anyone. Somehow, even though this was the first time Papyrus had ever mentioned his flower friend, let alone introduce me to him, I knew this flower. I don't when or where, but I had met this golden flower and judging by what I was still feeling, he definitely wasn't a good monster.

"Golden flower?" I asked, making extra sure to keep my voice calm and collected.

"I DIDN'T TELL YOU SANS? I MET HIM A WEEK OR SO AGO AND HE IS A GREAT FRIEND!" explained Papyrus as he walked out of the kitchen. "HE GREATLY ADMIRES ME AND SAYS THAT I AM SURE TO BE PART OF THE ROYAL GUARD SOON!"

"Did he now?" I asked softly as I managed to get my heart, which had been beating abnormally, to calm down.

"YES, OF COURSE, BUT THEN IT IS HARD NOT TO ADMIRE ME, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AFTER ALL." For a moment, I didn't talk, choosing instead to figure out why I felt like this flower needed to die as soon as possible. Even though all he had apparently done was flatter and admire my brother?

"Yeah…well, I gotta go to work," I ended up saying as I walked towards the door. "OKAY, BUT THIS TIME I SWEAR, IF I HEAR YOU'RE SLACKING…"

"Papyrus?" I asked when I reached the door. I usually didn't interrupted my cool baby brother but I was too on edge to be polite. Especially when I felt this overprotective urge to keep Papyrus far away from the flower.

"YES BROTHER?" asked Papyrus, obviously surprised that I had interrupted him but yet didn't sound offended. If anything, he also sounded concerned, probably thinking that if I of all people interrupted like this, then something was wrong. Just what was wrong though? Just what has this flower…done? Wait a minute…

"Just…be careful okay?" I told him as I gripped the doorknob tightly, wishing that I could ask him to stay away from the flower. I mean I could, but it's not like Papyrus would really listen anyway, since he believes everyone needs a good friend and can be good if they just tried. And if the flower hadn't done anything bad yet in this timeline, my words would really just fall on deaf ears. If Papyrus had them.

"I mean, you never know…this flower could be a true enemy of the Royal Guard or something…"

"I DOUBT THAT BROTHER, BUT DON'T WORRY. I, THE GREAT PAPRYUS, AM ALWAYS CAREFUL!"

When my brother said that, I had a flashback of me pleading him not to go and confront Chara. This was followed by another flashback of him going anyway, willing to risk his life because he believed that the insane possessed kid could change. I then shook my head, clearing my head of the unpleasant flashbacks since I wouldn't change Papyrus for the world, including his naïve optimism. Even if such optimism got him murdered.

"That's true," I finally said as I looked back at my brother. Papyrus was wearing a proud smile so bright that I couldn't help but wear a small smile of my own. "Well…I gotta go. See ya later Papyrus."

"BYE SANS, AND THIS TIME NO SLACKING OFF!" Papyrus ordered as I left our house. As soon as I closed the door behind me, I teleported to my Waterfall sentry post and sat down on my seat. I then placed my skull in my hands and sighed.

"Golden flower…what in the world did you do?" I mumbled to myself as I raked through my head for any memory that could answer my question. But I could find no such memory, only the image of the flower's face and the feelings I felt associated with him. This meant that one, I had to have met this flower so many timelines ago for me to almost completely forgot about him. And two, whatever this flower did, it had to be pretty similar to Chara's dastardly deeds. Why else would I hate the flower just as much as I hated the kid in the last timeline?

"Sans are you okay?" asked a familiar concerned voice. I instantly picked my head up and saw that the voice did indeed belong to Frisk. They were standing in front of me, a worried expression on their face. "You look…uneasy." For some reason I couldn't help but smile and chuckle at that, which actually did ease my…well uneasiness with the whole flower business.

"Uneasy? Me? Please, I am too lazy to even bother with such feelings like uneasiness," I quickly brushed off with my usual carefree tone. Meanwhile I couldn't help but wonder how I got to my sentry post before the kid had even entered Waterfall. Maybe the kid stocked up on some cinnamon bunnies before they continued or something like that.

"Hehehe…if you say so," Frisk chuckled, though there something akin to disbelief in their eyes. "So why are you here anyway?"

"What? Haven't you seen a guy with two jobs before?"" I shot back in a playful tone, feeling grateful that Frisk hadn't pushed the issue even though they hadn't believed me.

"Yes…" they answered, their voice suddenly going soft and sad. "I my Dad used to have two jobs at once. They always made him so…grouchy when he finally came home…" As I looked at the kid's solemn expression, I felt my figurative heart hitch. And what made it worse was the slightly haunted glint in their brown eyes, like that wasn't even the full story. Like the full story definitely wasn't a fairy tale.

"Well, you don't have to worry about me. I am never a grouchy set of bones," I told them in a desperate attempt to cheer them up. "And that is because fortunately, two jobs means twice as legally-required breaks." When Frisk naturally smiled at that, my spirits couldn't help but lift slightly and feel somewhat victorious.

"I'm going to Grillby's. Wanna come?" The invitation came out of my mouth before I even had the chance to think about it. Needless to say, I was startled. Now, it wasn't like I wasn't planning to go to Grillby's soon anyway or that I hated Frisk. I was just startled why I was going out of my way to make a kid, who I honestly hadn't totally forgiven yet, happy. It was like…I _wanted_ to spend time with the kid who was kind of responsible for killing my brother once. And for all I knew, maybe twice. Though that was really looking doubtful now.

"Yeah!" they exclaimed, happiness written all over their face. Well, I definitely can't take it back now.

"Well, if you insist…" I teased them. "I'll pry myself away from my work..." Frisk didn't verbally respond, choosing instead to just roll their brown eyes. I couldn't help but chuckle at the kid's silent lip as I left my sentry station.

"Um, isn't Grillby's the other way?" they asked me when I walked in the opposite direction.

"True, but I know a shortcut," I answered as I motioned them towards me with a finger before walking again. With an instant nod of acceptance, Frisk ran after me and when I felt the time was right, I teleported us straight inside the best restaurant in the world.

"W-Wha…" Frisk stuttered as they looked around Grillby's with a stunned expression.

"Fast shortcut huh?" I asked with a teasing grin, gaining great pleasure from their reaction to my 'shortcut.' Then, after some chatting and joking with the other regulars at Grillby's, Frisk and I sat down at the bar. Frisk's stool of course had been tampered with by a strange whoopee cushion. And even though they had been pranked twice by such a device, the kid still giggle. Yeah no doubt about it, Frisk had a good sense of humor.

"So…" I said as I stratched my skull nervously, as we waited for Grillby to fulfill our double order of burg. "What do you think…of my brother?" I don't know why I asked them this, I mean it had been clear since yesterday that they loved Papyrus. Maybe I just wanted some kind of conversation to fill the air instead of uncomfortable silence. Or maybe…I just wanted to hear it from their own lips.

"Oh, they are so totally cool!" Frisk exclaimed with stars in their eyes. I guess I was nervous about their answer because as soon as they finished talking, I felt immensely relieved.

"Hahaha…of course he's cool!" I agreed full-heartedly. "You'd be cool too if you wore that outfit every day. He'd only take that thing off if he absolutely had to."

"Really?!" Frisk exclaimed, their eyes wide with shock. "Then how comes it looks so clean?!" Wow, they really were an observant kid.

"He washes it…and by that I mean he wears it in the shower," I admitted. Instead of being disgusted or even weirded out, Frisk laughed good-naturally.

"Yeah, I can see Papyrus doing that," Frisk agreed just as Grillby delivered us our burgers.

"Well…here comes the grub," I said as I felt new gratitude towards the kid. They easily could have said that Papyrus was too weird and decide not to be friends with him anymore. But Frisk didn't. "Want some ketchup?"

"Hmm…yes please!"

"Then bone appetite," I said with a wink. My pun earned a giggle from them as they tipped the ketchup bottle. Then suddenly with a big splat, all of the ketchup poured onto their burger.

"Aw man…" they whined as I howled with laughter.

"W-Whoops…" I somehow wheezed out, still bowled over with hysterics. It was only when I saw them looking slightly peeved did I managed to gain control of myself. Well, mostly anyway. "Eh, f-forgeddabouit. Y-You can have mine…hehe."

"Thanks…" they said with gratitude as I gave them my burger. "And…sorry that there isn't any ketchup for you."

"Nah, it's okay, I have plenty of ketchup at home," I stated truthfully as they took a bite out of their burger. As well as the bottles of ketchup I had stashed away in almost all of my jobs. Then to my surprise, Frisk had a thoughtful and…apprehensive expression on their face as they chewed. Before I could wonder anymore about that however, they asked me a question once they finished chewing.

"Is ketchup the monster's version of alcohol?" For a moment, I was too stunned to speak. Then the moment ended. Before I knew it, my back was on the floor and in another fit of laughter. This just caused everyone else in the restaurant to laugh uncontrollably. Well, all except for Frisk who just looked embarrassed and surprised.

"Oh my gosh kid…where…wherever did you…get that idea?" I managed to ask as my body shook like one of the dogs did whenever they get petted.

"When…when I saw you drank straight from the ketchup bottle last night," Frisk admitted both sheepishly and nervously. Wha…oh yeah. I did do that last night. While being reminded why I drank some ketchup last night did put a damper on my hysterics, I was still chuckling as I stood back up.

"Hehe…look kid," I told them as I got back on the stool. "Drinking ketchup straight from the bottle is just…hehe…my own weird habit. It's just a regular condiment, that's all." A regular condiment that for some reason help soothe my soul after I have a nightmare. I wasn't planning on telling the kid that though.

"Hehe…sorry," Frisk finally chuckled. "It's just that my Mom used to drink straight from the bottle too so I wasn't sure." Well, that definitely stopped my hysterics. I studied their face and saw that once again, they wore a solemn expression with slightly haunted eyes. Just what exactly has this kid been through?

"Anyway, cool or not, you have to agree Papyrus tries real hard," I randomly said, figuring that the kid would want a swift change in the conservation. And though the shift definitely wasn't smooth, the kid seemed to perk up a bit so I guess it worked.

"Like how he keeps trying to be part of the Royal Guard," I continued. "One day, he went to the house of the Royal Guard and begged her to let him be in it. Of course, she shut the door on him because it was midnight. But the next day, she woke up and saw him still waiting there."

"Really? What then? What did she do next?" Frisk questioned me, the solemn expression completely replaced with an admiring and curious one.

"Well, seeing his dedication, she decided to give him warrior training," I continued with a fond smile. "It's, uh, still a work in progress."

"Sure, but one day Papyrus will be a part of the Royal Guard! I believe in him!" Frisk exclaimed, the stars appearing in their eyes again. Seeing such sincere words come from the human's mouth made me smile. It was actually hard to believe that this kid, though it wasn't their fault, had cut down my brother in a previous timeline. And suddenly an idea popped up in my head.

"Oh yeah, I wanted to ask you something," I stated, acting on my idea with some apprehension.

"What is it?" Frisk asked. I took a deep breath and let it out. Well, here goes.

"Have you ever heard of a talking flower?" After all, Frisk clearly remembered what happened in previous timelines too, so maybe, just maybe, they knew about Papyrus' 'friend.'

"Yes…" Frisk answered uncertainly, like she wasn't sure she was giving the right answer. "There was an echo flower near your second job." While it wasn't exactly what I was expecting, I was go with this answer.

"So you know all about that," I said with a nod. "They are all over the marsh you know…"

"What about it?" they asked, a curious yet wary look in their warm brown eyes.

"What about it? Well, Papyrus told me something interesting this morning," I continued as my apprehension grew. "That a flower appeared to him last week and flattered and encouraged him. Weird…" The rest of my sentence was left hanging in the air when I noticed the kid's sudden terrified expression.

"Papyrus's friend…isn't an echo flower is it?" I asked, even though I already knew the answer.

"I…I don't know for sure if it's the same flower or not but…" Frisk answered slowly and carefully. "But at the beginning of the Ruins I did meet a flower…a flower who tricked and tried to kill me." For a moment, only tense silence filled the air between us as the dread and abhorrence I felt before came back in full force.

"Well…I'm definitely encouraging Papyrus to stay away from him," I said as I just barely managed keep any threatening tones in my voice. I didn't want to scare the kid after all. Especially not when they had told me what I really needed to know. That my baby brother was friends with a monster that wasn't above trickery and murder.

Of course, it was possible that the flower only tried to kill them because he either naturally thought they were a threat, or he understandably a chance to break the barrier. But judging from the way my instincts were screaming at me, I _really_ doubt it.

"Yes please!" Frisk pleaded with me. For some reason, even though I really wanted to find this flower and stop it from doing whatever bad thing it was going to do, their sincere desperation calmed me down a bit.

"Well…keep an eye out, ok?" I asked them, finding it much easier to keep a threatening tone out of my voice.

"Of course," Frisk complied with a firm nod. "I have Papyrus' number so when I see Flowey, I can contact you through him."

"Thanks," I said, grateful that they were even willing to call me if they saw this…Flowey again. I then got off the stool, planning to first tell Papyrus to stay from Flowey and then keep my own eye-sockets out for him. While also doing my best to keep my promise to the old lady _and_ working at my several jobs. Looks like these set of lazy bones were going to have to be busy for a while.

"Welp, that was a long break," I told Frisk, thinking that I might as well end our little outing on a good note, at least for their sake. "I can't believe I let ya pull me away from work for that long."

"Wha…oh," Frisk said sheepishly, obviously noticing my teasing grin.

"Oh and by the way, I'm flat broke. Can you foot the bill? It's just 10,000 G."

"Nope," Frisk replied with a teasing grin of their own.

"Hehe…just kidding," I chuckled slightly. "Hey Grillby, put it on my tab." And with that, I walked towards the door, ready to move ahead with my plan. Which I wouldn't have made if I had suddenly invited the kid to Grillby's.

Then suddenly, just when I reached the door, I had an urge to request something of Frisk. So I stopped and turned around. However, just when I opened my mouth, the logical part of my brain told me that I shouldn't request this of the kid. Especially since an evil spirit had possessed them in the last timeline, and possibly could still possess them in this timeline.

"By the way…I was going to say…" The quip I was going to say was left unfinished when I saw Frisk's curious expression. An expression that only a human with a heart could muster.

"Be careful." Realizing that I ended up saying my request anyway, I immediately turned around and left Grillby's before the kid had a chance to respond. Before the kid could see my blushing cheekbones. Which I don't know why I was blushing, I mean, it wasn't I was actually concerned for the kid's safety…right?

 **:) I did it! I...I was not expecting this chapter to turn out like this but I think I like it! Do you? Were the characters in character and did anything not make sense? In any case, please tell me your thoughts in a review and I will get back to you by the next week at the latest. Till then, see ya!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Guest: *blushes* T-Thank you! Really, your words made my day! :D**

 **Whack-a-Sans: Thank you and nice puns! :D**

 **TemSaysHoi: Haha...that is definitely good to know! :)**

 **I don't own Undertale because I am not Toby Fox.**

 **Odd Jobs Part One**

After that, I stopped by at our house and told Papyrus that I had heard from Frisk that Flowey was dangerous and to stay away from him. I was tempted to tell Papyrus that his 'friend' had tried to kill Frisk but my fear of him confronting Flowey for revenge stopped me. Luckily, Papyrus believed me anyway and told me that he would try to avoid Flowey from now on. Even though I picked up on his hesitant voice and the word _try_ , I was satisfied enough with his answer. It was a way better answer than the one he gave me before he left to confront the human in the last timeline after all.

I then quickly rooted around Snowdin for Flowey, and was rewarded with absolutely nothing. No matter where I looked or how many snow puffs I went through, no flower or even clues turned up. Finally, I had to go to Waterfall and see how the kid was doing. Because even though there was a monstrous plant out there, free to whatever it wanted, I had to keep my promise to the old lady. Not because I truly wanted to see how the kid was doing or anything caring like that. Nope. Not at all.

So figuring that Frisk was probably somewhere near my telescope, I teleported there to find a monster nearby looking at the fake stars. I then asked the little guy if he had seen a person with a purple-and-blue sweater walk by. When he said no, my usual smile couldn't help but turn into a playful and devious smirk. Because if the human hadn't reached my telescope yet, that means I could still prank them.

My timing was perfect because just as I finished applying a fresh coat of paint on the lens, Frisk arrived. I barely had time to hide the can of paint before Frisk laid their curious brown eyes on me. While they obviously were surprise to see me there, I also could clearly notice the utter delight on their face. Like they were actually _happy_ to see _me_. Before I had time to even ponder on why my heart suddenly felt really warm, Frisk approached me.

"Hey Sans! So is this a third job or something?" I chuckled as I looked them up and down. Even though their clothes were now muddy and slightly torn, and their hands were scratched up a bit, Frisk on the whole was pretty much unharmed.

"Yeah," I answered after an inward sigh of relief. "I'm thinking about getting into the telescope business. It's normally 50,000 G to use this premium telescope…but…"

"But…?" Frisk asked when I didn't purposely didn't finish my sentence.

"Since I know you, you can use it for free," I continued, my smile growing wider and more playful as I stepped to the side so they could have room to look through the lens. "Howzabout it?"

"Of course!" Frisk accepted with a wide and innocent grin as they immediately stepped forward and looked through my telescope. Oh this was going to be fun.

"Um Sans…I only see red," the confused-sounding human stated as they looked away from the telescope and at me. It took every ounce of self-control I had to not just outright laugh when I saw the red circle of paint around their right eye.

"Huh? You aren't satisfied?" I questioned with a shrug. "Don't worry. I'll give you a full refund." For a moment, they just looked at me, like they were trying to read my mind. Which was currently bursting out with hysterical laughter.

"What did you do?" Frisk said carefully, their brown eyes still studying me.

"What do you mean?" I asked like I was totally innocent. I then mentally gave myself a high-five for not cracking even a little bit. Still giving me a suspicious glare, Frisk touched the area right around their right eye and brought it down. It was only when they looked down and saw the red paint on their fingers did I finally let myself go.

"Oh my gosh," Frisk flatly stated as I rolled around on the ground. "I can't believe…"

"That I…got ya…good?" I somehow asked between my howls of laughter. "And don't…give me…that face…I know…I tickled…your funny bone." It was true, because while Frisk was wearing an annoyed expression, I could tell by the subtle twitches that the expression was forced. Then after a moment, Frisk finally lost the battle and let it out as well. And so we laughed together for what seemed like forever, though in reality it was probably only a few minutes.

"Oh my gosh…I was totally not expecting that," said Frisk as they wiped a happy tear away from their eye.

"Of course you weren't, which is why I did it,' I said as I leaned against the wall, with one hand on my now painful stomach, even though I didn't have one. "That is the number one rule to pranking after all: to get the victim when they least suspect it."

"That makes sense," Frisk agreed. Then they sighed as they stood up. "Well, as much as I just like to stay here…I gotta continue."

"I understand," I said as I too stood up, even though there was a part of me that wanted this jolly moment to last just a little bit longer. "You got places to go, places to see. But don't work yourself down to the bone, okay?"

"I won't," Frisk chuckled before walking away with a wave. "See ya later Sans!"

"See ya bucko," I replied with my own wave. Then before I knew it, Frisk was gone. And in spite of myself, I found myself wondering when I was going to see them again.

 **UT**

I had left my telescope not long after Frisk left, having decided that my time would be better spent if I looked for Flowey instead of waiting to see if I could prank anyone else. So I searched for the little golden flower, but just like earlier in Snowdin, I found no traces that such a plant existed. However, just before I became really frustrated, I heard what sounded like a concert going on. Curious, I followed the noise and saw a good number of monsters crowded around two people. To my surprise, the two people were Frisk and Shyren, and they were humming a pretty melody.

After a quick debate with myself, I decided to take a quick break and listen to their music. But then I noticed that some of the monsters were starting to quarrel over who could sit where so I stepped in before they could disrupt the kid's and Shyren's performance. I had to use my emergency toilet paper to do it, but by using it for makeshift tickets I dispelled the quarrels. And since I actually got some good money out of it, I am definitely not complaining.

Just when I run out of toilet paper, Shyren and Frisk stopped the humming and after a short conversation that I wasn't able to overhear, told the audience that the concert was over. Knowing that my much needed break was over, I left with the other monsters though I made sure to wave goodbye to Frisk as I did so. I waved because I was grateful that Frisk was nice to the little shy monster and for providing us with such nice music. Not because I didn't want the kid to think I had forgotten them or something like that. Or at least…not just because of that.

In any case after the concert, I continued to walk through Waterfall, my eye-sockets peeled for the flower known as Flowey. Once again I had yet to find any clues to Flowey's whereabouts, let alone find the pesky flower. However, instead of becoming frustrated, I just continued smiling and marched right on through. Because for some reason, I was still happy from the kid's and Shyren's concert earlier. I guess music really does make a person's spirit feel light and hopeful.

But then suddenly, I stopped walking. My soul twisted in pain and my fingers twitched uncontrollably as I looked at the sight in front of me. The logical part of me practically yelled at me to calm down and that there was nothing wrong with some echo flowers. That if I just took a deep breath and kept on walking, I would be able to get pass them in less than a minute. That this timeline was nothing like the last one so these flowers shouldn't be able to bring me emotional pain again. But somehow, even though I knew that this was true, I couldn't move, helpless as the memory of the last time I was in this place played through my mind.

 _In front of me, were a group of echo flowers. While I normally would stop to listen to them out of curiosity, I just trudged ahead through the water. I had to catch up to the kid, and I couldn't afford to be delayed by anything anymore. And besides, I just felt too dead and empty inside to feel a pleasant emotion like curiosity._

 _"…hmmm…if I say my wish…You promise you won't laugh at me?" I continued to walk forward, though I did note inwardly that I will most likely never be able to laugh again. Even though laughing used to be one of my favorite pastimes._

 _"Of course I won't laugh!" the second echo flower exclaimed. I briefly recollected that I too used to say something similar to this as I pushed my legs through the water._

 _"Someday, I'd like to climb this mountain we're all buried under," the third flower wished. In spite of my previous resolution, I immediately stopped walking and listened to the blue flower in painful anticipation._

 _"Standing under the sky, looking at the world all around…that's my wish," the flower finished. For a moment, I stood there as what remained of my broken soul twisted painfully under my ribcage as I had a flashback. A flashback of Papyrus once telling me that one day he would like what the sky and the surface world looked like._

 _"C'mon Sans…you gotta keep moving," I scolded myself with a shake of my head as I kept on walking. "You don't have any more time to waste…" Then I heard joyful laughter from the fourth flower._

 _"…hey, you said you wouldn't laugh at it!" the fourth flower continued, though the voice was different from the one who laughed. I kept on walking forward, though I did let myself sigh and wonder why anyone would laugh at such a nice dream. A dream that may never happen now but a nice one just the same._

 _"Sorry, it's just funny…" the last flower apologized. "That's my wish too." Feeling like I just got punched in my non-existing gut, I stopped in my tracks. My throat closed up as tears threatened to leave my eye-sockets._

 _I took in a deep breath in a desperate attempt to control them, because I had cried enough for a lifetime. But unfortunately, my attempt did nothing to stop me from remembering what I once used to wish. That I would too get to see what the sky and the surface world looked like. With my younger brother by my side._

 _The tears fell after that recollection. I tried to quickly wipe them away but more just came so after a few futile attempts, I gave up and let myself cry. And wish that my dream could still be possible to achieve._

" _No…my dream can still come true!" I declared fervently to myself. "The human just has to reset…that's…that's all the psychopath has to do…"_

" _SANS!" a familiar voice suddenly called out, as big splashes could be heard behind me. On instinct I turned around and saw Undyne running towards me, fear and surprisingly, relief and hope on her fishlike face._

" _Oh thank goodness, I…" the rest of the words died on Undyne's lips when her eye landed on the still fresh tears on my skull. Then its gaze moved down to the red scarf around my neck. As said eye widened in realization and grief was written all over her face, I knew that I didn't have to explain why I was crying or why I was wearing Papyrus' scarf. Or what had happened to my brother for that matter._

" _No…" Undyne moaned as she collapsed to her knees, her body starting to tremble and her single eye beginning to overflow with tears. She then gritted her teeth and bowed her head, like she didn't want me to see her crying. And for at least a minute, we silently stayed like that, Undyne kneeling in the water and me staring at her, my own tears finally slowing down._

" _I don't know what I was expecting," she finally admitted, her proud voice now broken. "I mean, with Papyrus not answering my phone calls and the human running loose and killing everyone in their path…it was pretty obvious what happened wasn't?" As Undyne gave a forced and joyless chuckle, I sighed._

" _Undyne…" I said in an attempt to get her to stop talking. I didn't want to be rude but I really couldn't stay here and listen to her grieve. Especially when her broken voice and silent tears made me want to cry again._

" _But I couldn't help hoping…" Undyne continued, like I hadn't said her name. "That maybe…just maybe…the punk had escaped. That the reason why he was late to our training was because he was busy running away with you and the other monsters…that the reason why he didn't answer my calls was because in his rush…he somehow dropped his cell phone…But…" Then Undyne picked up her head._

" _But that was just me being in denial…wasn't?" she asked me, half of her face wet and getting wetter with rapidly flowing tears. The pain I felt from seeing her pain hurt so much that I had to face my skull away from hers. As Undyne began to quietly sob, I clenched my teeth as I clutched Papyrus' scarf, my new tears falling down my skull._

" _I…I was in denial too…" I admitted when I had finally had gotten control of my tears and emotions again. "I mean…I waited for five hours for him to come home…if that's not denial I don't know what it is…"_

" _Sans…"_

" _I wish…I wish that I had been brave enough to leave the house…" I confessed as I interrupted Undyne, clutching Papyrus' scarf even tighter as I did so. "Maybe…I…I would have arrived in time to…do something…anything…to s-save h-him…"_

" _It's not your fault!" Undyne suddenly exclaimed. I looked at her, stunned as I beheld her sincere face through my tears. "It's…it's that human's fault! They were the one who decided to kill him, they were the one who killed such a harmless monster, and they are the one who need to pay!" For a long moment, I just gazed at Undyne as her grief gave way to her fury. As I did so, a feeling that had been dull even since Papyrus' death began to glow just a little. Hope._

" _Undyne…if you really believe that…" I finally said as I stopped clutching Papyrus' scarf and put my hands inside of my coat pockets. "Then please…for all of our sakes…for Papyrus…please kill the person who looks like a human." Without a word, Undyne stood up, her single eye filled with resolve as she looked into my eye-sockets._

" _Trust me, I was going to anyway," she firmly stated. Then she began to walk towards me, her stride filled with renewed purpose. "In the meantime though, go to Alphys' lab. If the worst should happen, then at least you will be safe too. Okay?"_

"' _Kay," I lied. I still had a promise to keep, and I couldn't very well keep it stuck in Alphys' lab. I wasn't planning on saying anything else after that, but then when Undyne walked past me, I knew that there was one more thing that I had to say._

" _Don't die," I ordered, making her stop in her tracks. Because not only was she my hope to get the dirty brother killer to die and eventually reset, Undyne was also my friend. Sure, my brother was closer to Undyne than I was, but I still liked and respected her enough to care about the hero. And it could be my broken soul talking but…I didn't want her to leave me behind either._

 _"I won't, I swear it," she said. Then Undyne continued to march towards her eventual fight with the one who took my brother away from me._

"C'mon Sans…" I said out loud when my painful flashback finally ended. "Pull yourself together…that was in the last timeline…Frisk is a good kid. They didn't kill Papyrus and they haven't kill any other monsters. And they will keep on not killing monsters…you know this."

With this in mind, I took in a deep breath and let it out. I then trudged forward, the familiar words of the echo flowers flowing into my ears, even though I didn't have any. As I did so, I couldn't help but feel relieved that my dream was now still possible to achieve. And it was all thanks to Frisk, who had gained control of her body long enough to reset.

However, even as I thought that, I couldn't help but remember that their body was the reason why I had cried because of these flowers in the first place. The reason why I had lost my brother and why Undyne didn't fulfill their promise to me. The reason why there was a part of me that has yet to truly and fully forgive the kid for what had happened, even though it wasn't their fault. Even though Frisk was a good, bright, sensitive, and funny kid who I admittedly shared some good times with. A kid that, no matter how much I told myself otherwise, was somehow worming their way into my heart.

 **Wow...was this a rollercoaster of a chapter or what? So what do you think is going to happen next? Do you think this chapter was written well and that the characters acted in character? Please tell me in a review (or just tell me your reactions, I would love to read those too) and I will update by next week at the latest. Till then, have a good week!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Christopherprime22: Yay, I am so glad that you liked it! Though please don't sue me, I'm poor;)**

 **Mr Diddles: Why thank you!**

 **AN: Sorry that this chapter took super long. It was just that for some reason this chapter was really hard to write...that and the fact that I got easily distracted didn't help.**

 **I don't own Undertale.**

 **Odd Jobs Part Two**

I was looking around Waterfall for the kid when suddenly, something crashed into my back. As a result, I fell onto the soft ground with the thing that had collided with my backbone lying on top of me.

"A-Ah! Sorry Sans!" piped a familiar voice as they got off of me. As I soundlessly picked myself up, I looked behind me to find Monster Kid kneeling beside me. Well, that explained why the voice sounded so familiar and how they knew my name.

"It's okay Kid," I assured them with a small smile as I used my magic to help them up to their feet. When I released them from my blue magic, I noticed the worried expression on their face and their trembling body.

"You're running away from that human aren't you?" I asked them, still wearing a smile and keeping my voice in a light tone. Though I am pretty sure that by the way Kid squirmed, even he could tell that both smile and tone were awfully forced.

"They…I thought…I tried to…they were going to…" Kid sputtered out as tears began to build up behind his eyelids. Then they shook their head and looked me straight in the eye-socket. "Undyne is fighting the human just past the bridge near the mountain! Ya…ya gotta help her! She got hurt protecting me!"

For a long moment, I just stared at Monster Kid silently as the sound of flowing water filled the otherwise silent air. The poor kid was still trembling from uncontrolled terror and anxiety was written all over their face while their black eyes were filled with guilt. As for me, my small fire of hope was becoming more nonexistent by the second. But there was no way I was going to let it die.

"Go back to your parents Kid, I got this," I told them as I passed by them, adjusting my brother's scarf along the way. Then I stopped, deciding on an impulse to look back at them. "But I wouldn't worry or feel guilty, Undyne was always a tough fish to fry. A cut or two wouldn't be enough to take her down."

"That's what she said!" I heard them exclaimed, their voice a tiny bit more relieved and hopeful now. "Well…bye and good luck!" Kid then ran off towards Snowdin, looking less guilty now. I let myself smile for a little while longer, glad that I was able to lighten Kid's burden a bit. Because after all, according to Undyne, all the fault belonged to the human.

Then without wasting another precious second, I teleported straight to the bridge, determined to help or save Undyne. Yes, I couldn't hurt the human because of my promise to the old lady. But I also just can't stand by and let her get killed. I have seen too many piles of dust, both in Snowdin and in Waterfall, and I don't think my soul could take it if Undyne became one too. And whether I helped by moving Undyne out of the way of a fatal blow or causing some kind of distraction so Undyne can deal a fatal blow, I will help.

When I got to the bridge, the sound of a furious battle reached the place where my ears would be if I had them. It only took me a second of searching for me to find the place where the sounds were coming from. Just like Monster Kid had told me, Undyne and the brother killer were fighting each other.

But to my surprise, instead of wearing her regular suit of armor, Undyne was wearing an unfamiliar black one with raised and flaring shoulder-plates and a big heart on the breastplate. Even though it looked quite majestic, I didn't spend much time looking at the armor or wondering where Undyne got it. I was too busy looking at all the spears Undyne was throwing at the murderer, a proud and determined smile on her blue fish-like face.

When I saw that the human's blue-and-purple sweater was spotted with red blood, I couldn't help but smirk. That smirk grew even more when I noticed that while Undyne had various small injuries on her body, she still wasn't breaking a sweat or seemed bothered by the wounds. As the human kid barely managed to not get skewered by one of the magical blue spears, relief and hope started to ease my tense soul.

Maybe Kid and I both had overreacted and got unnecessarily worried earlier. Maybe Undyne didn't need my help after all. Maybe this freaking and grief-filled nightmare will end in less than a minute. Then like one of Undyne's magical spears, the kid raced forward towards Undyne. And stabbed her right near the heart.

"N-No…" I stuttered softly, desperately wanting to believe that I was just being delusional. That Undyne really didn't receive a critical hit, that she really wasn't about to die like Papyrus. That I didn't do anything to help my friend, even though I had the chance.

"Darn it…so even THAT power…it wasn't enough?" Undyne asked out loud as she stood up tall, even though her body was trembling heavily. Before I could ponder on what she meant by that, Undyne started to laugh.

"If you…if you think I'm going to give up hope, you're wrong. Cause I've…got my friends behind me." My beaten soul suddenly felt like Undyne had taken a whip and used it to strike my soul.

"Alphys told me that she would watch me fight you…" Undyne continued, her body trembling even more as drops that looked like sweat appeared on her forehead. "And if anything went wrong, she would…evacuate everyone. By now she's called Asgore and told him to absorb the six human souls."

"And with that power…" Suddenly, with no explanation, Undyne began to… _melt._ Confused and horrified, I shook my head and blinked my eye-sockets, thinking, _hoping_ , that I really just imagining things. That Undyne really wasn't dying a strange and even more horrible death. But when I turn my eye-sockets back on her, Undyne was still… _melting._

"This world will live on…!" Undyne declared as she continued to melt even more. Then suddenly, what was left of Undyne's body was turned into gray dust. As her dust fell to the ground, the human, whose eyes were redder than the last time I saw them, turned around and left.

When I was sure that the real monster was gone, I walked towards Undyne's remains and didn't stop till her dust was right in front of me. As I gazed down on the pile, a small part of me was relieved that Undyne had died before she fully melted. But the rest of me was hurting too much to feel grateful for that.

"W-Why Undyne?" I asked as I clutched Papyrus' scarf with one hand, tears building up in my eye-sockets. "Y-You swore…you swore that you weren't g-going to die…"

"B-But then…it's partly my fault isn't it?" I continued after a choked sob left my throat and a few tears splattered onto my slippers. "I mean…I was right there…and I didn't help you. T-Though…you wouldn't have wanted me to help y-you…huh?" For a moment I just stood there, silent as the black hole replacing my heart got even bigger and destructive.

"B-But even so…did…did you have to leave me behind too" Then suddenly, I wasn't looking at Undyne's pile of dust near the bridge. Instead, I was at my Hotland entrance post. It took a second for me to remember that after no luck in finding Flowey in Waterfall, I decided to go to my third job. Where as soon as I sat down, I fell asleep and had another nightmare about the last timeline. I sighed.

"When am I going to stop having them?" I mumbled to myself as I sleepily closed my eye-sockets, my soul feeling both heavy and weary. Then suddenly, just as I was about to fall asleep again, I heard someone scream bloody murder. My heart immediately pumping a hundred beats a second, I opened my eye-sockets and looked in the direction where the scream came from.

A second later, and to my surprise, I saw Frisk running towards my post like they was on fire. And a second after that, I saw Undyne in her normal armor running after her with a fiery glint in her eye. Realizing what was going on, I just closed my eye-sockets and pretended that I was sleeping. I told myself that I was just letting the kid fight their own battles, and not because the dream I just had was effecting my better judgment.

"AAAHHH...SANS! HELP ME!" Despite myself, I cracked one of my eye-sockets open and saw that Frisk was right in front of me, looking terrified yet…she was wearing a small proud smile. Like even though the kid was clearly scared of Undyne, they were glad that they chose to run away, instead of fight. I genuinely smile a little at that, as I remembered that it was Chara who had killed Papyrus and Undyne last time. It was Chara who made me feel utterly alone last time. Not little Frisk.

"Run," I whispered as Undyne got closer and closer. Frisk then nodded and without another plea, ran onto the bridge that lead to the rest of Hotland. And just in time too, because less than five seconds later, a bloodthirsty Undyne was in front of me. Needless to say I closed my eye-socket again.

"Sans! How dare you sleep on the job!" I heard her shout. Instead of responding though, I just continued to sit there with closed eye-sockets and fake snored.

"Ugh, whatever! I get back to you later!" And with the sound of rushed and clanking footsteps, Undyne was gone. I cracked my eye-sockets open and looked after them, hoping that I had bought enough time for Frisk to get away to safety.

Then, just as Frisk got off the bridge, they tripped and landed right on their pale face. My eye-sockets went wide with shock and fear as Undyne got closer to the fallen child. However, before I could begin to plan on what I should do, Undyne's suddenly slowed down.

By the time Frisk picked themselves up, Undyne had stopped running altogether and was now struggling to even walk. Then, without any warning, the Head of the Royal Guard collapsed on the bridge. It was at that moment that I couldn't deny what was wrong with Undyne anymore. Because of the dark and heavy armor and the fact that she was a fish, Undyne had passed out from heat exhaustion. And if nothing was done, she was going to fry.

With my heart in my throat, I jumped up and quickly ran out from behind my sentry station. I had let Undyne die once before, and there was no way I was going to repeat my mistake this time around. I would never be able to face Papyrus again if I did. Or happily live with myself for that matter.

Then, just as I was about to teleport myself over to the water cooler that was off in the distance, I saw Frisk run over to it and fill a cup with cold water. Then they ran over to Undyne, careful not to spill a drop. I couldn't help but stop in my tracks, my next breath got caught in my throat because of anticipation and hope. If skeletons needed to breathe anyway.

I didn't hope in vain. Because as soon as Frisk reached Undyne, they poured the water on top of Undyne's face. And after a few agonizing moments, I saw Undyne twitch. When she picked herself up, I could've laughed with relief. Frisk, whose body was responsible for Undyne's death in the last timeline, had just saved her life. Even though Undyne had really wanted to kill them, the kid decided to have mercy on my friend.

For a long moment, Undyne and Frisk just stared at each other. If there were words said, I was too far way to hear them. I was also too far away to see Frisk's expression though by the way they was clutching the Styrofoam cup, the kid was understandably wary. Then Undyne turned around and started to walk away from Frisk.

I stood there for a millisecond, hardly believing that Undyne, of all monsters, was just going to let a human soul go. Then I realized that the hero was coming towards me so I quickly went back to my seat and pretended I was asleep. When Undyne's footsteps became louder and louder, I prepared myself for some kind of confrontation with her. However, that confrontation didn't happen simply because Undyne didn't stop in front of my post. In fact, judging by the sound of her footsteps, she just kept on walking like I wasn't even there.

"Huh…she didn't get back to me," I mumbled as I opened my eye-sockets and looked after Undyne retreating figure. "Is she just ticked that a human of all beings saved her life? Or…is she just confused?" After all, Undyne has been holding a grudge against humans for most of her life. So for one to just spare her like that would probably shake her world at least a bit. But Undyne is a tough monster, so she is going to be just fine.

When Undyne left my line of sight, I turned my skull and saw that Frisk was leaving my line of sight. As they left, I smiled as I let myself delight in the fact that Undyne was going to stay alive in this timeline. Then I thought about how even though Undyne had hurt their body in the last timeline and had hunted them down in this one, Frisk had chosen to forgive her. Like…like how they had forgiven me. Maybe…maybe I should take a page from their book and at least try to forgive Frisk back.

 **So...what do you think? Was this chapter up to par with the others? Did Sans think/react in a believable way? Did this chapter make you feel any kind of emotions? Please tell me what you thought in a review and I will update by next week! All of you followers and reviewers have been really great to me so thank you for that:) Have a great weekend!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Sorry for the delay! I just...was busy _and_ I had a bad case of a writer's block. Either that or this chapter was just really hard to write...but in any case, this chapter worked out and I am actually pleased with it.**

 **Fan: *blushes* Aw gosh...Thank you! I am glad that my writing has made you feel some emotions...do you want a tissue? *offers tissue***

 **D3aCt1vA3D: Sorry about that. Thanks for telling me that the italics didn't work for the flashback in chapter 6.**

 **Guest: I will never judge you, so don't worry about that. Do you want a tissue too? *offers another tissue***

 **Guest2: *offers a tissue* Thank you so much! And don't worry, I haven't work myself down to a skeleton yet. ;) Hehe:)**

 **Christopherprime22: Thank you for sparing me. :)**

 **I don't own Undertale.**

 **Hot Dogs and the MTT Resort**

"There ya go buddy," I said as I gave a hot dog to the vulkin.

"Thank you!" the little walking volcano gratefully told me as he strolled away.

"You're welcome," I replied with a small wave, even though the vulkin had his back towards me. I then sighed as I leaned back in my chair. After Frisk spared Undyne, I stayed at my post till my shift ended a few minutes later. Then I searched throughout Hotland for any clue of that little flower monster. After about a half an hour though, it was clear that lady luck had yet to smile upon me. I would have kept on looking but I figured that Frisk will be arriving at my hot dog stand soon and well, I wanted to see how they were liking Hotland so far. So I teleported to my actual side job and have been selling hot dogs since.

"Hey Sans!" Well speak of the devil. I turned my skull just in time to see Frisk wave cheerfully at me as they walked straight up to me.

"Hey buddy, what's up?" I asked them when they reached my stand. I quickly glanced over them and was honestly pleased to see that other than a few bruises here and there, Frisk was relatively unharmed. Though I can't say the same for their sweater. Their purple-and-blue sweater, once pretty clean, now had several splotches of egg yolk and dirt. And…and now that I have a closer look at it…a few spots of bright red blood.

"Oh nothing much, I just survived Mettaton's cooking show," answered Frisk like it was no big deal. Well…that at least explained the egg yolk splotches.

"Survived? Is Mettaton a bad cook or something?" I asked in a false cheerful tone as I recalled overhearing some customers talking about how the robot's latest show was really thrilling. I didn't think much about it then but now I couldn't help but wonder how a cooking show could be considered thrilling. Or dangerous.

"I…I don't know," they replied in a tone that suggested they hadn't thought about it before. "Mettaton was too busy throwing baking supplies at me on my way to get the human soul substitute to actually cook anything. And I didn't get a taste of the cake he made before either. So…yeah."

As Frisk recounted their tale, I sighed inwardly. Because even though they were nonchalant about it, it didn't take a genius to know that Mettaton had seriously been trying to kill them. And knowing the dramatic robot, he will probably try to do it again in the guise of a 'television show.'

"I wasn't alone though," Frisk continued, their brown eyes on my clenched fist. "Alphys had given me a really cool cell phone earlier that comes with a jet pack. A _frisking_ jet pack! Anyway, during the show, Alphys called to tell me how to activate it so I used it to get to the human soul substitute, which was like, a million feet into the air. It was so much fun! And the jet pack was so fast that I was able to get to the substitute in time!"

I couldn't help but chuckle as Frisk got more excited and happy as they told their story and a pretty good pun. And as they did, I felt relief loosen the knot inside of my metaphorical stomach when I saw that they really were alright despite the spilt blood. It was also good to know that Alphys was keeping an eye on the kid too. It certainly makes my job of watching over Frisk easier. Though if Frisk could survive Undyne's onslaught, then surviving Mettaton's own onslaught should be a piece of cake to them.

As soon as I thought that, however, the memory of watching the human cut down the melodramatic robot on the big screen flashed in my mind. But instead of dwelling on it, I instantly shoved the memory away and reminded myself that it was Chara that killed Mettaton, not Frisk. That Frisk was a merciful and nice kid who deserves forgiveness. Forgiveness that I was now trying my hardest to give.

"Are you okay?" Frisk asked suddenly, stopping my train of thought. I refocused my attention on them and noticed that they were giving me a concerned look. Looks like my small period of self-reflection was over.

"Yeah…I was just thinking that after an adventure like that, do you wanna buy a hot dog?" I lied, though I did feel like the kid did deserved a hot dog after their…run in with Mettaton. "It's only 30 G."

"Oh, I really want to but…my pockets are full," Frisk said regrettably as they patted their blue shorts pockets, which definitely looked full. I pondered silently on the problem for a moment, before smiling.

"Then I guess I'll just put it on your head," I replied nonchalantly as I prepared a hot dog. And once the finishing touches of ketchup were done, I reached over and carefully placed it on the top of Frisk's head. "It's on the house…well no. It's on you."

Frisk then giggled, though whether it was because of the hot dog on their head or at the joke, I wasn't sure. Heck, maybe it was both. Then suddenly, a strange expression took ahold of their face. An expression akin to one competitive arm wrestlers wear right before going against their opponent.

"How many more hot dogs do you have cooked?"

"Um…twenty-eight," I said as I quickly glanced over my hot dog/cat supply that I kept on a sheet of tin-foil on the shelf below. "Why…"

"I bet that I can carry all of them on my head without them falling off. _While_ walking." I thought about this for a moment. On one hand, I will be out of hot dogs to sell and I will have to close shop. On the other hand…the very idea of placing a tall stack of hot dogs on top of Frisk's head…was just too appealing.

"Let's do this thing," I agreed as I grabbed a hot dog.

 **UT**

An hour and a half. An hour and a half of rooting around Hotland for the dangerous flower and once again, my efforts were rewarded with zilch. Nada. Nothing. No clues at all to help me find the blasted flower so I could stop him before something terrible happens. Sighing with frustration, I wiped some sweat away from my forehead.

"Well…at least my time in Hotland wasn't totally wasted," I muttered to myself with a small smile. After agreeing to Frisk's request, I put all twenty hot dogs and eight hot cats on their head in a neat little stack. And then Frisk, slowly and carefully, walked around for three minutes. Without a _single_ one falling off. It was glorious.

When the hot dogs finally did fall off, the both of us just laughed victoriously before we picked them up and threw them into the boiling lava below us. That was when we went on our different ways, Frisk towards the Core and me towards any place that I hadn't searched yet.

My grin, which hadn't faded at all while I enjoyed my little flashback, fell when I remembered what came next. While I searched for Flowey, I overheard from nearby monsters about Mettaton's latest two shows. The first one had been a news report, where a little 'reporter' had to defuse all sort of unique bombs under a very short time limit. The next show was an opera where Mettaton's short 'lover' had been cast into a dungeon with a very complicated puzzle. It didn't take very long at all for me to deduce that Frisk was both the reporter and the lover.

"At least Frisk survived both of his death traps," I muttered as my bony hand involuntarily twitched as I continued my walk through Hotland. "Man, why is that in the last timeline almost everybody didn't want to kill the kid but in this one, they are?!" Then suddenly, a horrible truth popped up in my head: Asgore is going to try to kill Frisk. And he is way more dangerous than Mettaton and Undyne.

"Frisk is going to be okay," I told myself adamantly. "If Frisk can survive against Undyne and thwart Mettaton several times, then they can survive Asgore's attacks! Heck, if they can beat nearly everybody in the last timeline, I'm sure…" Suddenly, the rest of my metaphorical brain caught up with what I just said. And as if on cue, images of Chara using Frisk's body killing Papyrus, Undyne, Mettaton, and the others attacked me mentally. Luckily, the mental attack was short. Painful but short.

"Man…I am a mess…How am I supposed to forgive them when I am still haunted? And yet somehow I…I…" Once again the rest of my sentence hung in the air as I placed my skull in my bony hand, standing completely still since I stopped a few moments before. And for what felt like a minute or so, I just continued to stand there silently and feeling…honestly, a bit lost.

"I…I need a break," I finally admitted as I lifted my skull off my hand. "And heck…the kid probably needs a break by now too. In fact, they deserved one." After I figured that Frisk is probably coming up to the MTT Resort soon, I immediately teleported to the front of the hotel. Once there, I looked around to see that Frisk had either not arrived at the hotel yet or was already inside. Or perhaps I was too late and they were already at the Core.

Then luckily, before I could start to worry, Frisk arrived at the scene. There was a small purple bruise was above their right eye and a small hole in their blue shorts took residence above their left knee. Their striped sweater looked just a bit dirtier than last time but thankfully, it didn't have any additional spots of bright red blood. And even better, Frisk's brown eyes were still full of the light of curiosity and their wide smile was friendly and happy.

"Sans! You work here too?!" Frisk cried as soon as they noticed me. When they ran up to me, I let myself smile when I saw how genuine the kid's own smile was. I couldn't help it, Frisk just had one of those smiles that was contagious, much like my brother. It makes me wonder how Chara didn't turn away from their path of bloodshed when Papyrus smiled at them.

"Hey bucko," I said as I mentally shoved the image of Papyrus's remains away, if images in your head could be shoved away that is. "Yeah, I do some stand-up comedy shows here once in a while. But enough about me, I heard that you're going to the core?" Well, not so much as heard as much as know that the only way to Asgore's castle _is_ through the Core. But whatever.

"Yep! Alphys says there's an elevator there that can take me straight to Asgore's castle!" affirmed Frisk cheerfully with a nod.

"Well, how about grabbing some dinner with me first?" I asked as I ruffled their short brown hair gently with my hand. Their response was immediate.

"Oh heck yeah!" I couldn't help but laugh at their enthusiasm, causing little Frisk to good-naturally chuckle in return

"Great, thanks for treating me," I joked with a smirk as I took my hand off their head.

"Hardy har," Frisk shot back with no real bite to their words. Still smirking, I walked over to the left side of the building.

"Over here. I know a shortcut," I said as I motioned them to follow me with a wave of my hand.

"Um…is this a normal shortcut or a magical shortcut?" Frisk asked as they followed me. Instead of answering, I just smiled in a way that suggested that they have to wait and find out. A minute and a magical shortcut later, Frisk and I were sitting across from each other at a table with a burning candle in the middle. The waiter had yet to arrive and as a result, the two of us were just sitting there awkwardly.

"Well…here we are," I said in an attempt to break the awkward silence. When Frisk only nodded, I decided that another attempt was needed. "So. Your journey's almost over, huh?"

"Yep," Frisk replied with another nod. "Can't believe that I've gotten this far already."

"Yeah, you must really want go home," I added. "If you are willing to go up against monsters like Undyne and Mettaton just to leave the Underground." And Asgore. Suddenly, Frisk's face turn into a grimace as they squirmed and looked at their feet.

"I don't have a home to go to," Frisk finally mumbled after a few moments or so. "Mom and Dad died in a car accident a few weeks ago. I was living in Marnmouth, the closest town to Mt. Ebott, with my foster parents when I decided to explore the mountain. And well, you know the rest."

"Oh gosh kid," I whispered, as my heart went out to the kid because if there is one thing I know, it's how painful the death of a family member can be. "I'm sorry, I didn't…"

"It's okay," Frisk assured me as they looked up with a sad yet sincere smile. "Really. They…I…well…Mom cared way more about getting her usual dosage of alcohol than spending time with me, and…Dad yelled at me a lot. And they always were so unhappy so that in the end…I think they were actually wanted to go. So...in a way, I am happy for them. Because they are happy now, in heaven and without me hanging around and being an annoying problem."

For several moments, none of us talked. Frisk just looked back down at their shuffling feet as I gritted my teeth, trying to get my anger under control. Frisk was a nice and intelligent kid who was full of curiosity and wonder. How could anyone yell at them, ignore them, or think that they were an annoying problem was beyond me.

"So…why are you trying to leave then?" I finally asked when my anger was bridled and under control. "Are your foster parents nice or something?"

"I guess…they don't really talk to me either," Frisk stated with a shrug. "But I have to keep on going because I am on a mission." A mission? Then suddenly words from the recent past flashed by in my head: _'I will reset and make it right, I promise.'_ Is…is Frisk actually trying to free us all? Is that why they are determined to see Asgore, so that we could have a chance to see the sun? Even though the chances of them not getting really injured are really low?

"Hey. I know the feeling buddo. Though…" I said as Frisk finally picked their head up again. I then took a moment to think about on what I should say next, because they could very well decide what happens in the near future.

"Maybe sometimes it's better to take what's given to you. Down here you've already got food, drink, friends…is what you have to do…really worth it?" I instantly saw a look of longing in Frisk's eyes, like they really were tempted to stay down here in the Underground.

A small part of me remarked on how surreal the situation was. After all, here I was, telling a kid who could very well be our savior, to forget all that and stay with us monsters. A kid whose hands were once covered in my brother's and friend's dust. A kid who I was honestly still having trouble to fully forgive. But Frisk was also a kid who I had many good laughs with, a kid who loved my brother, and a kid who had a chance to spare Undyne and took it. A kid…that I honestly didn't want to see bleed anymore. Especially for my sake.

"Yes," Frisk said firmly and with conviction, even though there was still a bit of longing in their brown eyes. Inwardly letting out a small and frustrated sigh, I turned to the side so Frisk wouldn't see the disappointment on my face. If I was honest with myself, I knew that Frisk was going to say yes. Determination made up a huge part of who they are after all, determination that couldn't be so easily shaken by a well-meaning offer to stay here and be safe. But it hurt still the same.

"Sans…" Frisk started to say before I interrupted them with a wave of my hand as I turned back to face them.

"Ah, forget it," I assured them. "I'm rootin' for ya, kid." It was the truth. After all, if they were so determined to face Asgore and free us all, rooting for them is the least that I can do.

"Thanks," Frisk gratefully said. Then they sighed as they looked around us. "Shouldn't the waiter have been here by now?" Now that they mentioned it, a waiter definitely should have come by and taken our order by now. Where were they?

"Probably. But hey, how about while we wait, you wanna hear a story?" I offered so that the poor kid wouldn't start getting impatient. It must have worked, because Frisk's eyes immediately lighted up really brightly.

"Yes please!" Frisk exclaimed cheerfully. I chuckled, which eased the disappointment I felt when they refused my offer. Some of it anyway.

"So I'm a sentry in Snowdin forest, right?" I started to tell them, picking the first life story that came to mind. "I sit out there and watch for humans. It's kind of boring."

"Is that why you sleep on the job so much?" Frisk asked with a smirk.

"Hehe, partly," I chuckled good-naturally, even though I had a flashback of me waking up from a particularly bad nightmare. "Anyway, fortunately for me, deep in the forest…there's this _huge_ locked door. And it's perfect for practicing knock-knock jokes." The kid chuckled at that so like any good storyteller, I waited till they were done laughing before continuing.

"So one day, I'm knocking 'em out, like usual. I knock on the door and say 'knock knock.' And suddenly, from the other side…I hear a woman's voice."

"Toriel!" Frisk suddenly gasped as their hands flew to their mouth.

"Toriel?" I asked, surprised at the sudden revelation. Toriel…wasn't that the name of Asgore's ex-wife?

"Yeah, she is a very nice, motherly, and big goat lady," Frisk informed me as they wore a reminiscent smile. "She helped me get through the Ruins…well, until she had to go shopping anyway. But Toriel told me that she is the Caretaker of the Ruins, so the lady you heard has to be her!"

I just looked at Frisk, as I let this new information sink in silently. Instead of feeling interested or even satisfied, I was stunned. Because if I remembered correctly, our ex-Queen was a goat like Asgore and was rumored to be a very motherly creature. Which meant that there was no doubt about it, the old lady behind the door was indeed King Asgore's ex-wife. Which also meant…that when Chara used Frisk to kill Toriel…the insane spirit was also killing their mother.

"Are you okay Sans?" I dimly heard Frisk ask me through my growing anger. In response, I quickly shook my head and looked at their concerned face.

"Yeah," I told them, even though knowing I wasn't. And how could I? Chara, a human kid that both Asgore and Toriel had adopted, murdered their _own Mom._ Just what kind of monster was this darn spirit?

"So…what happened next?" Frisk asked cautiously, like they didn't believe my lie.

"I told her a bad joke about dishes and she loved it," I continued, not feeling like going into the details right now. "I then told her a few more before she told me one. We shared more puns and jokes for a few more hours before I had to leave. Papyrus gets kind of cranky without his bedtime story." Frisk just nods without a sound, so I just continue the story sort of halfheartedly.

"But she told me to come by again, and so I did. Then I did again. And again. It's a thing now." A thing that stopped in the last timeline when Chara used Frisk's body to make her scream. "Telling bad jokes through the door. It rules."

"Of course it does!" Frisk agreed, their brown eyes still concerned and cautious as they looked at me. Brown eyes that were probably turning slightly red when their master struck down Toriel. Eyes that Toriel, being the kind lady that she is, must have accepted and loved just because they were the eyes of a child.

"One day, though, I noticed she wasn't laughing very much," I continued as I inwardly tried to get a grip on my fury. "I asked her what was up. Then she told me something strange. 'If a human ever comes through this door…could you please, please promise something?'"

"What was it?" Frisk asked softly, clearly invested in my story. A flashback of them not laughing when I showed them the whoopee cushion in my hand appeared in my mind. When I instantaneously remembered why I didn't stop them then or soon afterwards, I clenched my fist. I reminded myself that Toriel's murder wasn't Frisk's fault, that I shouldn't get angry in front of Frisk, and that I was trying to forgive Frisk and not hang on to the past.

"She said, 'Watch over them, and protect them, will you not?'" I continued, still managing to not burst out in anger in front of the young child. "Now, I hate making promises. And this woman, at the time, I didn't even know her name. But...someone who sincerely likes bad jokes…has an integrity you can't say 'no' to."

And because of that promise, I couldn't avenge her as soon as it was clear that the human was a murderer in the last timeline. Because of that promise, I couldn't stop Chara from killing my brother. Because of that promise, I didn't put in more effort to save Undyne and all the other monsters. Not that I blamed Toriel though. It wasn't her fault that Frisk turned out to be a possessed vessel that was slaughtering everyone in their path.

"Do you get what I'm saying?" I asked, my voice low and a bit a deeper than it used to be. "That promise I made to her…you know what would have happened if she hadn't said anything? Buddy?"

The rational part of me immediately yelled at me to stop, to shut up before it was too late. That I shouldn't take my anger out on little and innocent Frisk. But I couldn't stop, I was just too angry by the injustice and horrible deeds of what had happened in the last timeline. I just couldn't keep it in anymore. So I on instinct made my pupils disappear as I spoke my next few words slowly in a very deep voice.

" _You'd be dead where you stand_."

 **Sans...well, I just hope you didn't terrify them to their core. So, what did you think? Was the range of emotions Sans was feeling make sense in this situation? Were Sans and Frisk's actions believable? Please tell me what you honestly thought of this chapter in a review and I swear to update by next Wednesday. Till then, have a great day (and for my fellow Americans, I hope you had/have a great President's Day!)! :)**


	9. Chapter 9

**I DID IT! I FINALLY WROTE THIS CHAPTER!** **Whew...well, sorry about the wait again guys. But instead of filling your heads with excuses, let's just go ahead to the reviewers who I couldn't apply to!**

 **ACertainTurkey: I hope you are still determined!**

 **Guest: Haha, you're good. And don't worry, this story isn't ending that soon!**

 **R99: Yes, sweet! Thank you for the review!**

 **I don't own Undertale, since my name isn't Toby Fox. Now on to the story!**

 **The Truth about Forgiveness**

As soon as those words left my mouth, my anger simmered to the point where I wished that I could go back in time and stop myself from opening my dumb mouth. But no matter how hard I inwardly wished for it, I couldn't. I could only regret letting my anger control me as I watch Frisk's eyes go wide with shock and their face become pale.

"Hey, lighten up, bucko!" I exclaimed hurriedly while trying my best to keep my internal panic out of my voice, like those words were really just a part of a big and hilarious prank. "I'm just joking with you." One of the biggest lies I had ever uttered, but for the life of me I hoped that Frisk would believe me. Even though it was very unlikely that they would.

"It's okay," Frisk mumbled as they fixated their gaze on the table. "I mean…it's not like I don't deserve to die where I stand…" The kid then lifted their head, revealing the tears that threatened to leave their haunted brown eyes.

"Right?" they continued, their young voice wavering with heavy guilt as they wore an accepting expression. For a moment or so, there was only silence as I stared at the young grieving child, feeling slightly overwhelmed by this turn of events. Because it never once occurred to me that Frisk would not be at least slightly terrified by my behavior. Let alone be fine with the idea of me killing them for no good reason.

"N…"

"You know, I don't think the waiter is going to come," Frisk interrupted me as they swiftly wiped their eyes. "And since I am actually more tired than hungry at this point…I think…I think I'm just going to go to bed."

"Frisk," I said as they stood up, not caring that Frisk was abandoning our 'date' one bit. When they stopped moving and looked at me expectantly, I desperately wanted to tell them that I was sorry, that it wasn't their fault that Papyrus and everyone else died in the last timeline. But when I opened my mouth, nothing came out. Whether it was because I didn't know exactly what to say or what, I just couldn't say that they don't deserve to die.

"Where are you gonna to sleep?" I ended up saying, my soul full with disappointment and guilt.

"Here," Frisk answered simply, like it was obvious. "I always wanted to stay at a fancy hotel, and now that I have acquired a lot of gold, I'm finally going to do it!" I could hear the sincerity behind those words, making it obvious that this really was Frisk's dream. Yet, at the same time, I could also tell that they were forcing themselves to be chipper and excited.

"Well, good for you," I replied with a smile, like I hadn't just made an innocent kid cry. If Frisk saw through my fake smile and my fake positive tone, they didn't outwardly show it. Instead, they just smiled and nodded.

"Yep…oh and…thanks for protecting me so far," Frisk thanked with a sincerely grateful smile. "I mean, if it wasn't for you, I probably would have died by now." Oh, never before have words felt like a good solid punch to my stomach, if I had one that is. But never mind that, Frisk was _thanking_ me. I had just told them that I would have killed them at the very beginning if it wasn't for Toriel, but nevertheless, they still _thanked_ me.

And for what? Protecting them? All I really did on that front was to delay Undyne for a little bit while she was chasing after them. And if it wasn't for me, they would have died by now? Did Frisk actually forget that I _personally_ killed them in the last timeline?! Twice?! Sure, I was also getting rid of the psychopathic Chara but still.

"Sure, no problem," I almost muttered, because that was what I was supposed to say. Frisk then nodded with a warm yet sad smile.

"Bye Sans! See ya later!" With that goodbye, Frisk turned to leave me behind at the table. At that moment, I was hit with the desire to stop them, to say something to turn this disastrous and painful outing around. To let them know that I frankly didn't hate them, despite the fact that I am still clearly having trouble forgetting what had happened in the past.

"Take care of yourself, kid," I requested just as they took a few steps away from the table. "Cause someone really cares about you." Frisk instantly stopped walking and turned to look at me. But instead of wearing a touched or a happy expression like I had hoped, Frisk just had a sad expression on their face. Like they didn't deserve to be cared about.

Then, with yet another sad smile and a nod, Frisk turned back around and left the restaurant. After they left, I just sat there, berating myself for not keeping my emotions under control. For causing the poor kid to think that they deserved to be killed. For not being able to forget the past and thus truly forgiving them.

"May I take…your order?" I turned my skull to come face to face with a bat-like monster in a waiter uniform, whose black eyes were unfocused and whose red tie wasn't tied properly. I glared at them silently as the waiter gave yet another drunken hiccup.

"Are you seriously dunking me?"

 **UT**

Before today, whenever I found myself in the MTT Restaurant, I would just give a glance or two towards the T.V. there and that's it. Then, if I had wanted to watch Mettaton be a drama-loving robot I could do it on the T.V. at home, with my brother by my side. But, that was before the _human_ came to the Underground and I heard the old lady give a cry of pain. Before piles of dust started to appear everywhere I went. Before Undyne died a heroic death. Before Papyrus died trying to bring the _human_ to the good side.

But now, my eye-sockets were glued to the T.V., my metaphorical throat closed up as I watched Mettaton face off the kid. I hoped against all hope that Papyrus' favorite T.V. star would actually be the one to kill the wolf in sheep's clothing. I wished with the rest of my broken soul that this agonizing and lonely nightmare would end very soon. But even though I hoped and wished with all my might, a small voice in my head told me that it wasn't going to happen. But I just brushed that voice aside, because Mettaton was going to beat the real monster. He _had_ too.

"RRRRREADY? IIIIIIIT'S SHOWTIME!" Mettaton cried in his deep announcer voice. Then suddenly, there was a bright flash of light, causing me to close my eye-sockets as a result. When I opened them again, I didn't see a box-shaped robot standing on a single wheel in front of the wolf dressed in sheep's clothing. Instead, I saw a humanoid robot with heeled boots, an arm cannon, spiky black hair, and pointy raised shoulder plates. This was obviously the true form that Mettaton was talking about. And I would be lying if I said that it wasn't impressive or at least slightly intimidating looking.

Then, just when I was beginning to think that I wasn't letting myself believe in a false hope, the human struck. The knife went diagonally across the monster robot's chest, breaking apart the black-and-red metal as it did so. My eye-sockets widened in shock and dread as Mettaton's body started to shudder, like it was taking all of his strength to stand.

"G…GUESS YOU DON'T WANT TO JOIN MY FAN CLUB?" Mettaton asked with a painful smile, his body still shuddering. Then there was another bright flash of light, along with the sound of an explosion. Like before, I had closed my eye-sockets on instinct, but this time when I opened them, there was no humanoid robot in front of the _human_. There wasn't even a box-shaped robot. Just an empty space where Mettaton used to be. Mettaton, the only but very famous star of the Underground, had blown up in result of being cut down by the murderer.

When the murderer continued on their way like nothing had happened, I absent-mindedly turn the T.V. off with my blue magic. For a moment that seemed like an eternity, I just stood there silently and unmoving. Then, anger and sadness crashed onto me like one of those tidal waves in those human science books I still read once in a while.

"DARN IT!" I yelled as I fell to my knees and hit the floor with my fist. "DARN IT METTATON! HOW WAS THAT PROTECTING ANYONE METTATON?! HUH?! HOW WAS THAT STOPPING THE MONSTER?! HOW WAS THAT DEFENDING YOURSELF?! HOW WAS THAT STAYING ALIVE?!"

With a frustrated and grieving wordless yell, I hit the floor again with my fist as tears fell onto the blue-and-magenta carpeted floor. My whole skeleton body ached with agonizing pain and despair as I continued to cry into my hands. Because while I was not a giant fan of Mettaton like my brother was, I definitely didn't hate him. Heck, even his silly antics got a laugh out of me once in a while. And besides, even if that wasn't the case, Mettaton didn't do anything to deserve to die at the hands of that insane killer.

"But…despite that…they k-killed him P-Papyrus," I mumbled through my sobs and into my hands. "He's g-gone too. Just like U-Undyne…just like that old lady….just like any monster that was in the h-human's path…just like y-you. Am I…am I going to end up a-alone Papyrus? I…I don't want be alone Papyrus…I don't want to be alone!"

I then cried even more as despair and loneliness threatened to consume whatever was left of my tortured soul. All I wanted was for my brother and friends to talk to me, to laugh with me, to come back to me. But they were dead and their only chance of coming back to life was now really slim. After all, with Mettaton gone, the only opposition the human had left was King Asgore…

Then with a gasp of realization, I stopped crying. King Asgore was still alive, and the murderous human was on their way to meet him. And while King Asgore was indeed a very strong fighter, so was the murderer. This meant that our beloved king had a good chance of dying. And if he does die, then the human would be free to go to the surface, with the dust of nearly the whole monster race on their hands.

As my mind went on this horrible tract, I thought of something terrifying. What if…what if the human decides to reset after they kill Asgore? Not because they regret their actions or anything like that but because…they want to massacre us again? And just in a different way this time? And what if…even after they finished going through the Underground again, the human resets because they just love striking down monsters so much? And they will see no problem with it because no one has yet managed to defeat them.

"No…" I growled as I clenched my fists. "That can't happen… _I_ won't let it happen." Of course, it could very well be that I was letting my depression get the better of me, and that the human wouldn't reset just to kill my brother and the others again. But somehow, I doubt it.

In either case, I am tired of seeing monsters die. I am tired of finding piles of dust here and there throughout the Underground. I am tired of monsters dying in general. So, even though I still had a promise to the old lady to keep, I was going to fight the kid. Because I won't, no, _can't_ , stand back and watch King Asgore, another living monster and friend die. Besides, someone has to stop the kid before they believe that they are above the consequences. And that person might as well be me.

"SANS?" Suddenly, I wasn't in the restaurant anymore. Instead, I was lying on the couch at home and Papyrus was leaning over me, with a concerned expression on his face. Looks like I had another memory nightmare.

"ARE YOU OKAY?" he asked worriedly with a boney hand on my shoulder, which he probably used to nudge me awake. Then suddenly, everything came rushing back. Me and Frisk waiting for the waiter at the MTT Restaurant and talking. Me threatening and scaring Frisk for no good reason. Frisk admitting that they deserved death and leaving me behind at the table. Me crashing on the couch, too tired and guilty to go all the way to my bed.

"Yeah, I'm okay, just bone tired," I lied as I rubbed my eye-sockets while Papyrus groaned at the pun. I shouldn't bother my precious brother with my troubles after all. "Why'd you ask?"

"BECAUSE…" Papyrus started to answer nervously as he looked down on his hands while fiddling with his fingers. "YOU WERE CRYING." Oh. _Oh._

"Of course I was crying!" I exclaimed as I quickly sat up while plastering a big smile on my skull, which hopefully should fool Papyrus into thinking that I really was okay. "All the ketchup bottles in the world suddenly exploded so there was no more ketchup left for me to drink! You can say…my _bones_ were _rattling_ with both horror and disbelief."

"AAAAAAHHHHH SAAANS!" Papyrus shrieked in frustration, making me actually let out a natural chuckle. "WHY?! IT'S TOO EARLY FOR BAD PUNS!"

"Then why are you smiling?" I further teased him, though he really was smiling.

"I DON'T KNOW!" my brother admitted honestly. This got another chuckle out of me, even though I still felt like there was slippery and sticky mud all over my metaphorical insides. But Papyrus wasn't concerned for me anymore and I had even managed to get a smile out of him and that's all that matters. Then suddenly the front door slammed open.

"Papyrus!" cried a certain fish warrior as she ran inside the house after slamming the door close. "Turn on the T.V. now!"

"WHY UNDYNE?!" asked a startled Papyrus as he automatically reached for the remote beside me.

"The punk is on a show with Mettaton again!" Undyne explained as she sat on the couch and faced the T.V. Now, while I was startled when Undyne unexpectedly arrived, I wasn't surprised because Undyne has dropped in like this before. _What_ did make me confused and surprised was her reason this time. She doesn't like Mettaton, so why would Undyne be anxious about watching Mettaton with Papyrus just because a punk is….wait a minute. Uh oh.

"OH MY!" exclaimed Papyrus as he quickly turned on the T.V. by pushing the power button on the remote while sitting in between me and Undyne. Immediately, our T.V. screen showed a peculiar yet…frightening sight. There was a humanoid robot who looked an awful lot like Mettaton's true form except he had no arms, no arm cannon, and no raised pointy shoulder plates.

He was currently firing electric-like bullets and kicking at his opponent. An opponent who was doing their best to dodge Mettaton's attacks and fire a yellow gun at him. An opponent whose clothes were singed and had even more blood on them. An opponent who was no other than little brown-eyed Frisk.

"AH, THERE'S THE HUMAN!" declared Papyrus, sounding both excited and proud, obviously not realizing that Frisk was in danger. Or Mettaton for that matter. "BUT WHO IS THAT ROBOT PLAY-FIGHTING WITH THEM?"

"I'm pretty sure that's Mettaton," I answered, not bothering to correct him on the play-fighting part. When Frisk nearly dodged being kicked right in their face, my metaphorical heart hitched and I had to clench my fist to keep from crying out. Because while Frisk was firing a gun at Mettaton, it was only in pure and honest self-defense. And at the moment, even though for some reason Mettaton didn't have arms, Frisk was in more danger of being killed than Mettaton was.

"Go punk go!" cheered Undyne ecstatically. "You beat up that robot!" Well, that surely earned a head turn from me.

"Uh…since when were you friends with the kid?" I asked incredulously. Undyne then took her attention away from the T.V. and gave me a toothy grin.

"Oh that's right, you weren't there! You see, Papyrus took the punk over to my house…"

"AH! THE HUMAN GOT A SHOT IN AND NOW I THINK METTATON IS LOSING HIS LEGS!"

"What?!" Undyne and I both cried as we both turn our attention back to the T.V. Welp, Papyrus certainly wasn't mistaken because with several big crashes and booms, Mettaton's legs fell off and landed on the floor before exploding.

"Oh my…are you okay?!" cried Frisk, obviously afraid and concerned for the robot as they put their gun, which somehow turned into a cell phone, away. I couldn't help but let a genuine small smile grace my features. After all, Frisk had survived the fight _and_ they were still concerned about a monster that had tried to kill them. They really were a nice merciful human. And I hurt them in spite of that.

"I see they haven't changed," said Undyne with a knowing smirk. Before I could ponder on that, Mettaton spoke with a happy smile.

"OOH, LOOK AT ALL THESE RATINGS! THIS IS THE MOST VIEWERS I'VE EVER HAD!" Really? Huh, no wonder why he's so happy then, despite having lost his legs. And now that I think about it, arms too.

"WE REACHED THE VIEWER CALL-IN MILESTONE! ONE LUCKY VIEWER WILL HAVE THE CHANCE TO TALK TO ME…BEFORE I LEAVE THE UNDERGROUND FOREVER!" And how exactly do you plan on doing that with no legs and no human soul?

"WHAT?! NO! DON'T LEAVE METTATON!" my brother cried in anguish.

"Hmph, good riddance," mumbled Undyne.

"LET'S SEE WHO CALLS IN FIRST!" Mettaton happily exclaimed, like he really does believe that he can leave the Underground in his condition.

"AH, I GOT TO CALL HIM!" Papyrus exclaimed as he hurriedly fished out his cell phone. But unfortunately, he wasn't fast enough because just as he took his phone out of his pocket, a phone call could be heard from the television.

"HI, YOU'RE ON T.V.! WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY ON THIS, OUR LAST SHOW?" Mettaton called out as whoever oversaw the phone calls answered the call offstage.

"OH MAN," Papyrus almost whined, looking quite sad and disappointed. Okay, it's official, if I ever meet Mettaton in person, I will give him a bad time for hurting Frisk _and_ my baby brother.

"Oh…..hi…Mettaton…I really liked watching your show…" said a sad yet sincere voice, which caused Undyne to gasp and Mettaton's happy expression to leave his face.

"That's Napstablook!" Undyne harshly whispered. Ah, that's Undyne's ghost neighbor who runs the snail farm by himself.

"My life is pretty boring…but…seeing you on the screen…brought excitement to my life…vicariously. I can't tell, but…I guess this is the last episode…?" continued Nabstablook while Mettaton's unreadable expression turned into one of sadness and guilt. "I'll miss you…Mettaton…oh…I didn't mean to talk so long…oh…."

"NO, WAIT! WAIT, BL…" Mettaton hurriedly called out but to no avail because the sound of Nabstablook hanging up could be heard. "H…THEY ALREADY HUNG UP."

After a brief moment of regret, Mettaton then put on a brave smile and said that he would take another caller. What happened immediately after that was nothing short of chaos as a whole lot of callers got picked up and told Mettaton that they loved him and will missed him. Papyrus also tried to call Mettaton again but unfortunately was stopped by one of Undyne's headlocks. Apparently people who were training to be part of the Royal Guard don't call television idols who were retiring, especially when said trainee was very close to tears.

Meanwhile, with each sincere phone call, Mettaton looked more and more guilty and sad. But what really took the cake was Frisk's reaction to this. Because of just standing there, the kid went up to the robot and patted him on the head in a comforting manner. Like all the attempts on their life had never happened. Like Frisk already considered Mettaton as a great friend who needed to be comforted. Like Frisk had already forgiven Mettaton.

Just…just how does the kid do that? How can they forget about all the blood that they personally lost because of Mettaton? Or all the attempts on their life recently? I have been trying so hard to forgive Frisk for something that wasn't even their fault, but I just can't forget! Heck, I just had a nightmare about Mettaton dying and me deciding to kill them! What in the world am I doing wrong?! Because I don't want to remember finding my brother's scarf on his remains, or seeing Undyne and hearing Toriel being killed by her own kid, but I just can't erase the darn memories…

I then gasped as realization struck me like I was actually a metal rod instead of a skeleton. Because I knew what I was doing wrong. I had thought that 'forgive and forget' meant that you don't think about what a person had done to you in the past and forgive. But that…just isn't possible…isn't it? Because once memories are made, they can pop up in the most random of times, especially with traumatic ones like mine. So how in the world is it possible to _not_ think about them? Maybe…maybe what I need to do is to…not _dwell_ on the memories. To just… _accept_ what had happened in the last timeline and…move on with my life. With Frisk by my side, as my little precious friend.

 **So...how was that? This is probably not the best chapter out of the whole fanfic but all in all, I do like how it turned out:) Please tell me your reactions to this chapter, or anything you liked/hated about this in a review, so I can further learn from this experience (so don't worry, I don't bite;) I will update this as soon as I am able to. Until then, have a great day/night!**


	10. Chapter 10

**I'M NOT DEAD! YAY! This chapter is finished! Sorry for the long wait again, I really am. The only excuse I have is that...I had a motivational/writing slump? I don't know...in any case, let's move on!**

 **EB: *bows* Thank you!**

 **reader99: Thank you and don't worry, I'm quite alright. Thanks for caring though!**

 **As usual, I don't own Undertale.**

 **The Judgement Hall Again**

As it turned out, Mettaton changed his mind about leaving the monsters behind, much to the delight of Papyrus and Frisk. Even Undyne, who despite having groaned when Mettaton made this announcement, didn't sound too disappointed. As for me, I was just glad that Papyrus was happy again, so I guess Mettaton won't have that _much_ of a bad time if I ever meet him. What happened after that announcement though, I didn't give myself a chance to find out since I had suddenly realized that Frisk was really close to confronting Asgore. And I couldn't let them do that without speaking to them first.

So with a brief goodbye to both Papyrus and Undyne, I quickly left the house and teleported straight to the Judgment Hall. When I got there however, I was immediately was reminded of the last time I was here, when all I cared about was killing Frisk. And I did that. Twice.

"How in the world could they have forgiven me so easily," I mumbled as I placed my skull into my hand, while images of a blood-covered Frisk lying on the gold-and-black tiled floor ran through my mind. Sure, I had to do what I did to stop Chara from killing Asgore but…but I still caused poor sweet Frisk to die horribly both times. And the second time I even killed them when they were now clearly truly sparing me! But yet, Frisk still forgave me, like they have with all the other monsters that have hurt them in some way. Well, except for possibly Flowey. I hope.

I continued to stand in the Judgment Hall, silently waiting for Frisk to arrive. As I waited, I thought over what I was going to say to them. Sure, I knew that I had to tell them that I definitely didn't hate them and that I was sorry for making them cry in the restaurant. But how I was going to phrase that without making another huge mistake? Yeah, that was the problem.

"Sans!" Well speak of the devil, Frisk is finally here. But unlike before, when Chara forced the kid to walk towards me with an expectant and insane smile, Frisk had a genuine on their face. And not only that, but they were also running towards me like they haven't seen me in forever, and not last night.

"So…what are you doing here? Do you have a job here?" they asked when stopped a few feet in front of me. I opened my mouth to give a light-hearted answer when I noticed the wary glint in their otherwise happy brown eyes and the way their fingers were twitching slightly. So while they were happy to see me, they were also nervous. After what happened in the restaurant _and_ what happened the last time we met in this hall…I don't blame them.

"Actually no," I chuckled after a few silent moments. "But…having said that…there are some things that I need to tell you."

"Okay," Frisk accepted with a curt nod, a bit of their nervousness changing into determination. I then took in a deep breath and let it out. Well…here goes nothing.

"Well, first things first…you finally made it," I said, hoping that I was going to say the right thing. "The end of your journey is at hand. In a few moments, you will meet the King." An imagined image of Asgore raising his trident to cut down Frisk raced through my mind, making me shudder. But as I learned last night, Frisk was determined to face him. So instead of trying again to persuade them to stay, I continued.

"Together…you will determine the future of this world. That's then. Now…"

"You are going to judge me," Frisk interrupted me softly. "For _everything_ I have ever done." Not caring at all that the kid interrupted me, my eye-sockets widened in surprise. Every bit of their nervous behavior was now gone, and instead their body was stiff like they were a brave criminal about to receive the death penalty. But what really got my attention was the acceptance and guilt in their eyes. Like they have truly regretted what they have done and were ready to accept any…

That's when realization took a hammer and hit me upside the skull with it. I now knew why Frisk was able to forgive everybody so easily. The answer was so _simple_ and _easy_ that I must be a frisking' idiot to not have seen it before, especially back at the restaurant and the night they spent at my home. Or perhaps I did but because I was knee-deep in my own issues that I just couldn't process it. In any case, I know what I need to say now.

"You know what EXP and LOVE mean right?" I asked, figuring that after going through the Underground two times, they probably knew what the acronyms mean.

"Yeah…" Frisk mumbled as they squirmed and their face looked pained. "EXP means execution points and LOVE means Level of Violence. I get execution points when I kill others and when I get enough of those, my Level of Violence goes up. And when my LOVE increases, the easier to gets to kill and not feel anything about it."

"Whoa," I said, as I imagined that if I had eyebrows, they would have been raised. Because while I assumed that they knew what EXP and LOVE were, I wasn't prepared for such a detailed answer. "You really know your stuff."

"Yeah well…someone made sure that I knew what they were," mumbled Frisk, pain lacing their voice as they suddenly became fixated with the floor. It didn't long for me to figure out who this someone was.

"Chara," I growled as I clenched my bony fists in my jacket pockets while feeling slightly sick and disgusted. "They really wanted you to know what they were making your body do huh?"

"Ye…well…" stumbled Frisk as they flinched like someone had struck them with a whip. Then they inhaled deeply. "It was still my fault."

If I wasn't sure before that Frisk hadn't forgiven themselves, welp, I sure was now. And really, it all made sense. The reason why the kid didn't hate any of the monsters that hurt them was because they figured it was pay back for all the pain they caused them. That they _deserved_ to feel pain for something that was beyond their control. And if they felt any blame at all, it was towards themselves, not anyone else.

"No it's not," I quickly said, remembering the way Frisk readily accepted my threat in the MTT Restaurant, like they didn't deserve my love. "Chara was the one who gained all that LOVE in the last timeline. Not you. You never gained any LOVE."

"Wha…" Frisk said softly as their brown eyes widened with surprise and unbelief. "But…"

"Chara possessed you against your will Frisk," I interrupted. "And from what remember, didn't you say that you tried to take your body back over? That sounds a lot like you didn't agree with what that little evil spirit was doing to me."

"Of course I didn't agree with them!" Frisk finally exclaimed with unshed tears in their eyes as they looked at me. "But I wasn't strong enough to stop Chara in time! And even if I was…I still killed that froggit!"

"Which was an accident that you regretted if I also remember correctly," I said calmly and sincerely. "And besides, I never said that you were completely innocent or naïve. Just that you kept a certain tenderness in your heart. Because no matter the struggles or hardships you faced in this timeline…you strived to do the right thing. You always did, and especially in this timeline, you refused to hurt anyone."

"How…how can you be so sure?" Frisk asked after a few moments of silence, their eyes looking back at the ground.

"Because even after I…betrayed and k-killed you in the last timeline, you decided to reset and fix things," I answered as a strange mixture of guilt and gratitude filled my soul. "I know that you didn't kill that dummy, froggit, Toriel, or anyone else in the Ruins. And after that, I saw how you didn't raise your stick against anyone. And even when you ran away, you did it with a smile. You never gained Love, but you gained even more of the good kind of love."

For a short while, Frisk didn't talk as they studied the ground, their body slightly shaking and their teeth biting their lip. Then the sweet kid looked up, tears falling out of their beautiful brown eyes.

"You really believe that?" Frisk asked, their young voice quivering. "That I am actually a good kid?" I suddenly felt the impulse to hug them, and hug them tightly. And well…after thinking about it for a microsecond, I quickly closed the distance between us and before I knew it, I was holding them very close to my chest and ribcage area.

"Yes," I said truthfully as I soothed down their messy hair, honestly feeling a bit misty-eye-socketed myself. "And…and I'm _sorry_ about what happened in the restaurant. I was angry at Chara, not _you_. Sure, I was wary of you at first and I had trouble differentiating you from that evil little spirit and honestly I still do somewhat but now…you're my bonefide friend."

"R-Really?" Frisk asked as they looked up at me with a hopeful expression, while their small arms started to tentatively enclose around me.

"Yep," I confirmed with a nod. "So, if I promise that I will do my best to move on with my life and be a really good friend to you, will you promise to start forgiving yourself?" For a second, Frisk didn't say or do anything. Then their arms finished enclosing around me, and they did it tightly.

"O-Okay," they agreed as they dug their teary face into my jacket. "Okay." I let out a relieved sigh as I stopped soothing down their hair and rubbed their back instead. We stayed like that for a few minutes, hugging each other while Frisk quietly let out relieved sobs that were muffled by my jacket.

"Well…" Frisk finally said as they pulled away from me, wiping away any stray tears as they did so. "I better go face my greatest challenge yet."

"Do you have to?" I asked as I fought the impulse to pull the kid back into my arms and not let go. "Because the only way Asgore won't take your soul and destroy humanity is if you fight him."

"But if I don't face him, you guys will be trapped down here forever," answered Frisk seriously. "Don't worry though, I'll figure out something." As I looked at their brave young face and their determined eyes, I had to admit that I would never be able to change their mind.

"Well…you didn't get this far by giving up, did you?" I asked, figuring that just like back at the restaurant, supporting them morally was the least I can do.

"Nope!" Frisk exclaimed as they raised their fist high in the air.

"That's right," I chuckled. "You have something called determination. So as long as you hold on…as long as you do what's in your heart…I believe that you can do the right thing."

"You and the others can count on me!" Frisk promised with a firm nod and warm smile. Even though the mere thought of little Frisk facing an opponent even tougher than Undyne made my soul anxious, I couldn't help but smile back.

"Alright, I guess I should say good luck then," I said as I ruffled their straight brown hair slightly. "Just…don't die okay? Sure, I know that you can just reload but…but still. It's…not really nice to know that your friend is just dying over and over."

"I promise," Frisk promised in a soft and sincere voice as they firmly nodded. And even though my request was something that no mortal can truly fulfill, I began to feel a bit better. Because if nothing else, then at least Frisk will try their best to stay alive. And that was good enough for me. For now anyway.

"Well, I better go now. Bye Sans!" they cried as they ran past me and towards the other end of the Judgement Hall. Then, just when I had turned around to see them leave with my own two eye-sockets, the kid stopped and turned to face me.

"Thank you Sans," Frisk thanked me with slightly red cheeks and a sincere voice. "I will treasure your words forever."

Then like they were too embarrassed to see my reaction, Frisk turned back around and raced out of the Hall. This was fine by me because as soon as they said those words, I felt my cheekbones grow very hot as well as my heart. As a result, I just stood there speechless for a few moments.

"You're welcome," I whispered, even though there was no way that Frisk would be able to hear my response. But no matter, I can just say those two simple words to Frisk when I see them again. And I will see them again. I have too.

 **UT**

After that, I realized that I hadn't eaten breakfast yet so I quickly teleported to Grillby's and ordered some scrambled eggs and bacon with ketchup. Halfway through, however, I found it hard to put any more food in my mouth because of all the snakes and butterflies in the place where my stomach would be if I had one. Despite my anxiety for Frisk's safety, I somehow managed to finish the rest of my meal, if only so that I won't hurt Grillby's feelings or more likely, make him worry for me.

After breakfast, I left Grillby's and headed home to see if Papyrus was still there. As I walked there, I realized that it has been a while since Frisk had left to face Asgore. Perhaps, since time hasn't been reloaded yet…Frisk's battle with Asgore is over now. Maybe…they actually managed to convince Asgore to not kill them by now.

"BROTHER! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!" I heard my brother cry just as I thinking these hopeful and relieving thoughts. As usual with my brother, I smiled as I saw him walk briskly towards me, having just left our humble abode. I opened my mouth to reply when suddenly, everything went black.

 **uh oh. That can't be good. And just when things were looking slightly up...well...what do you think? Was this chapter up to your expectations? Were the characters in characters? Did you feel anything while reading this? Well, please tell me in a review and I will update as soon as I can! Which will hopefully be within a week...can't make any promises though. Thank you for all your support so far and have a good day/night!**

 **P.S. For those who hate Flowey...you might like the next chapter a good bit at least. Just saying.**


	11. Chapter 11

**I'm...I'm alive...I'M ALIVE! YAHOOO! I FINALLY UPDATED! Man, am I happy! Thank you all for waiting _sooo_ long for this. I just hope that this chapter is worth the wait!**

 **reader99: aw, thank you! :D I'm glad.**

 **ERODE: As you should be. I'm happy that you liked it though!**

 **guest: Don't worry, I don't plan to abandon this fic!**

 **Usako Nyx: Thank you very much! :D**

 **Yukai: Your comment made me blush...Thank you so very much!**

 **I really don't own Undertale. Really.**

 **Confrontation**

As soon as it came, the darkness disappeared and I found myself right outside of Grillby's, instead of being only a few feet away from home. And instead of Papyrus rushing to meet me, he was nowhere in sight. It didn't take long for me to figure out what must have happened.

"Frisk…Frisk died…" I said in a soft tone, my metaphorical heart still having a hard time believing the truth. "Asgore…Asgore killed them!"

Then suddenly, my shock wore off and the truth wasn't that unbelievable anymore. What I felt next was a nearly overwhelming mix of horror, sadness, anger, and guilt. Horror and sadness from knowing that my little pacifist friend had been killed by King Asgore. Anger towards King Asgore who made innocent Frisk die a third time. And guilt...from the fact that I could've prevented this.

And this was the strongest one out of all my four current emotions. After all, while Frisk did clearly die, they also came back to life so that wasn't as horrible and sad as it could have been. And while I was angry that Asgore killed Frisk, I knew that he only did it so that the rest of us monsters could be free, not because he was a cruel monster. So it's hard to truly be furious at him for that.

But me…I truly was to blame for Frisk dying again, just like the other two times. I mean, if I really didn't want the human child to die, why didn't I go with them to face Asgore?! If I had gone with them, then I could've protected them! Or better yet, persuade the monster king to let them live! That's what a true friend would have done! But no, instead, I let them go alone, the thought of going with them never even crossing my mind. Whether it was because I thought facing Asgore was something Frisk had to do alone or I somehow was just being absent-minded, I don't know. And honestly, it didn't matter.

"I'm a bad friend…" I whispered brokenheartedly. "But…no more! I'm coming Frisk! I'm not going to let you die again!"

Without any time to lose, I immediately teleported to the Judgement Hall. I would have teleported past that but unfortunately; I wasn't sure where Frisk and the King were fighting so I just had to settle for the hall. Once I arrived, I raced out the Judgement Hall and into the hall that led into both the throne room and the coffin room.

When I got to the entrance to the throne room, I skid to halt, realizing that I had to choose between checking the coffin room and the throne room. My anxious metaphorical heart beat even faster as I frantically tried to make the right choice. Which was probably the throne room but you never know, Frisk could have met up with Asgore in the coffin room and he decided to just fight them there…

"No, there's not room enough for both of them to stand in there, let alone fight each other," I said out loud, inwardly berating myself for not figuring that out sooner. "Throne room it is!"

Without wasting another moment, I ran into the throne room, which was horribly empty. However, I did hear booms and clashes off in the distance and the ground beneath me trembled slightly.

"What in the world?" I asked out loud, my voice full of bewilderment, apprehension, and fear. "Wha…What are they doing in there?!"

This meant that Frisk and Asgore were still fighting, and I wasn't too late. Yet.

"Hang on Frisk, hang on!" I harshly exclaimed as I continued to run, my legs even faster as I left the throne room. When I entered an empty room, the noises suddenly stopped. Not knowing what to make of that, I pushed myself to run even faster as I now headed towards the barrier. I now desperately wished that I will find Frisk still alive with Asgore in front of barrier. That I will get there in time, that I will be able to protect and save Frisk, that Asgore will be persuaded to let the kid live. That I will not fail Frisk, that the kid will never die again.

Then suddenly, just as I was about to the room where the barrier was, everything went black again. Before I could react to this, I found myself back in Snowdin right in front of Grillby's, like I had never left the cold snow-covered town. For a second, I just stood there, feeling absolutely nothing, since my mind couldn't wrap my mind around of what just happened. And then it did.

And like I was being hit by snowballs by all sides, I was bombarded by my failure and horror. Despite my efforts, Frisk had died again by the hands of Asgore. _I_ had let them die what was probably a painful death. And now they were fighting the King again, which will probably result in Frisk dying yet _again._

Then, before I could even think about just teleporting straight to where the barrier was, blackness filled my vision. The darkness stayed only for about a second before being replaced with the very familiar Grillby's front door and the snow-covered ground. The implications of this caused me to fall to my boney knees in terror as I subconsciously tried to regain control of my frantic and unsteady breathing.

"Frisk…I…I w-wasn't…" Immediately after I said that last word, my world got consumed in darkness again before I found myself suddenly standing again after an agonizing second. What happened next was nothing short of a nightmare-like chaos. Because I couldn't even take a full intake of breath before time reloaded again. Then time got reloaded again and again and it just kept on repeating rapidly like that for who knows how long. All I was aware was the feeling of absolute terror keeping a tight hold on my soul with its icy fingers and being unable to breathe properly. Whether this was due to just not having a chance to breathe with all the reloads or because of my fear and grief, I honestly couldn't tell anymore.

Then _finally_ , it stopped. The repeated and instant reloading _finally_ stopped. _Finally_ , my scenery stayed the same; instead of constantly changing because total darkness and the sights of Snowdin. _Finally_ , Frisk stopped having the need to load. _Finally_ , Frisk stopped…stopped dying.

For a moment, I felt relief for time being stable again and for Frisk living more than a millisecond before getting brutally killed. But that relief quickly turned into an indescribable mixture of guilt, grief, and dismay. Because not only did I fail Frisk once, I failed them so many times that I lost track. But what hurt the most was knowing that poor Frisk was probably hurting way more than me, having died horribly so many times.

I was tempted, oh so tempted to just teleport to my room and lie in my bed in a depressed state and probably cry into my pillow so that Papyrus wouldn't hear me. But I couldn't. Because Frisk was still facing King Asgore, little brave and determined Frisk. And even though I had failed them before and just might do so again, I couldn't just stay in Snowdin and wallow in self-pity either.

So after taking a deep breath even though I didn't have lungs, I teleported straight into the barrier room. What I saw next left me well, speechless. The room was a complete disaster of a mess, with craters, leaves, and gashes littering the floor. While King Asgore was nowhere to be seen, I did see Frisk. And they were going through the barrier, leaving me and the rest of the Underground behind.

"Frisk wa…" I started to yell desperately since I didn't want them to leave, not before I talked to them, before I apologized for letting them down. The rest of the words died in my nonexistent throat, however, when Frisk left my line of sight. The kid had finally left the underground.

"Wait…" I finished softly, even though there was no way Frisk could hear my pleas now. My soul then became weighed down by the heavy weights called regret and sadness as I kept on looking after them, wishing with all my nonexistent heart that they would come back. Even though deep down, I knew that my wish probably wouldn't happen.

"Frisk…whatever happened to freeing all…" The rest of my sentence then hung in midair, destined to never be said as I found myself distracted by something green and yellow moving on my right.

Not even really thinking about it, I grabbed the thing with my blue magic and brought it up right to the front of my skull. When I had a good clear look at it, I gasped and if I had a heart, then surely it would have skipped a beat. Because the thing that I had grabbed, which was currently wiggling to be free of my blue magic, was a flower with bright golden petals. And even though he looked pretty beat up, there was no doubt in my mind that he was same flower from my memory. I have finally found Flowey. And I wasn't even trying. I would have laughed at the irony if I had any bit of a good mood left.

"So there you are…" I said in an unpleasant tone as I put aside my regret and sadness to leave room for my upcoming hatred and anger. This was actually easy since as I kept on looking at the clearly despicable flower, a few memories from that long-ago timeline began to flow into me.

I remembered this little monster somehow getting all the human souls the King had in store and absorbing them. I remembered him turning into a diabolical looking and freakishly big form after he absorbed the souls. I remembered fighting him and actually defeating him. And I also remembered…wearing a red scarf at the time. And that was all I remembered. But it was all I needed to know about this truly monstrous and evil flower.

"You…you killed my brother," I growled, now knowing why I hated this flower as much. He had murdered him in cold blood, just like Chara. At that thought, I had a flashback of finding Papyrus' dust in the last timeline, and me crying into his signature scarf as a result. Instead of just torturing me, however, this flashback made me realize something. If I forgot that Flowey killed Papyrus because it happened in a timeline long-ago, then were there other past timelines where Papyrus had been killed? Just how many times has Papyrus died and left me behind?

"Oh my…you remembered that…" Flowey chuckled, even though my blue magic still had a good grip on him. "I guess you want to kill me now? Because I will totally understand if you do."

I was just about to answer him when suddenly, at the corner of my eye-socket, I saw it. Feeling like my heart was in my throat and an icy hand of horror had a tight grip on my soul, I turned my skull to see it more clearly, desperately wishing I was wrong. But alas, when I had a clear view of it, I wasn't wrong. I really did see Asgore's cape lying on the ground, shredded beyond belief and with some dust on it.

"King Asgore…" I managed to say in a shaky voice, as a part of me wondered how in the world I didn't see the cape and dust before.

"Hahahahaha!" Flowey laughed heartily and evilly, despite his voice sounding a bit breathless. "Man, you should see your face! It was the same expression that blasted kid had when I killed the King in front of them! But…oh, the best part was seeing that defiant, _determined_ expression changed into one of horror when I turned into my omega form."

Omega form? Then suddenly, everything clicked, making me gasp in horror. King Asgore didn't kill Frisk. It…it was _Flowey._ After the little termite killed Asgore, he must have forced the kid to fight him resulting in…Frisk dying. _Countless_ times. And Frisk, being the determined person they were, only just managed to defeat Flowey. How, I didn't know but…Flowey's fight to live was far from over.

"IT WAS YOU!" I yelled, pure rage in my voice as I threw Flowey with my magic onto the ground.

"IT WAS YOU WHO KEPT ON KILLING THEM!" Flowey found himself crashing onto the left wall before rapidly colliding with the right one. The walls got Flowey-shaped craters from this.

"WHY FLOWEY WHY?!" I cried as I magically threw Flowey onto the ceiling and then onto the ground.

"WHAT DID FRISK DO TO YOU?!" I made Flowey collide with the far wall, keeping an eye on his health. He had enough left HP left to survive a couple more beatings. Or hopefully more than a couple.

"WHAT DID ASGORE DO?!" I summoned some bones and sent them crashing onto Flowey. I felt some satisfaction when instead of just grunting, Flowey actually cried out in pain from that attack.

"HECK, WHAT DID MY BROTHER DO TO DESERVE DEATH?!" I magically turned Flowey upside down and sent him crashing onto the ground. His HP at this point was low enough that he would only to survive one more attack. I better make it count.

So with a flick of a finger, I sent him flying towards me, till he was a foot or so away from me. I then summoned two of my Gaster Blasters, and began to charge them. I felt some more satisfaction when I was fearful recognition light up Flowey's pained face. Good. He didn't forget how I ended him in that timeline.

"Just what…what makes that brain of yours tick?" I asked quietly, yet venomously. "Does it give you some kind of sick pleasure to kill a peaceful kid again and again or something?"

"YES! YES IT DOES!" Flowey yelled, his voice sounding so horribly sincere. "Because in this world, its kill or be killed and boy, is it way more _fun_ and altogether _better_ to kill instead of being killed! And I thought, no I was _sure_ the human had finally understood after I mercilessly kill them again and again. But…but after I was defeated they…they had _mercy_ on me."

Frisk…Frisk did what? Well, it did make sense. After all, Flowey was still alive and it did look like Frisk left the Underground without making any sort of chase. But still. To know that Frisk actually spared the little monster's life and hearing it are two different things.

"I…I just can't understand…" Flowey continued, sounding like he was both confused and frustrated at the same time. "But…I do understand you. You won't spare me, you're gonna kill me out of revenge and so that I won't be able to get sick pleasure from killing someone you love right?"

I wanted to. With every inch of my being did I want to slaughter this little bugger, and make him pay the ultimate price for his sins. But…at the same time…I knew Frisk wouldn't approve. Would they understand? Yes, but be happy about it? Definitely not. But then again…I can't just let him go…can I?

"Here's what we are going to do," I finally said after what seemed like a millennium of debating with myself. "I am going to throw as hard as I can. If you survive, I will let you go. If you die, welp, really nothing else I can do there. Though…if you do manage to survive...and decide that it would be fine to go near within thirty feet of my brother…I will make your last few moments the _worst_ time of your frisking _life_. Do you understand?"

Flowey opened his mouth to answer but unfortunately for him, I didn't let him. Because right after I quickly made my Gaster Blasters disappear, I teleported to the Judgement Hall so that Flowey can fly longer when I threw him. That and because well, the Judgement Hall wasn't called that for no reason. Once I was in the long tiled hallway, I threw Flowey much harder than I had thrown him previously. When he crashed into the wall at the end of the hall and slid to the ground, I patiently waited to see if little monster would turn into a nice little pile of dust.

 **Welp...I think it is safe to say that we have been reminded of an important lesson here guys. DON'T TICK OFF SANS. In any case...what did you think? Were Sans and Flowey in character? Was the confrontation all that you hoped/thought it would be? Well, please tell me in a review and I will update as soon as I can. Hopefully it wouldn't be as long as last time. So till then, have a good day/night/week!**


	12. Chapter 12

**It's finally here, yea! I just hope this chapter was worth the wait!**

 **Usako Nyx: Yes, thank you! I'm glad:)**

 **Guest1: Read this chapter and the next, and you will see why Frisk left the Underground.**

 **Guest2: No, but again, I don't see why nice cream can't taste like a raspberry snowcone.**

 **pl: Here you go!**

 **I don't own Undertale. Because the last time I checked, I'm just a young woman not a...mysterious-aged man.**

 **A Friendly Call**

He didn't. Oh sure, his HP went down to .005, but Flowey didn't somehow frisking die. However, as I begrudgingly let the little despicable flower monster painfully run away, I didn't feel guilty. I gave Flowey a well-deserved beating _and_ I spared him. Somewhat. In any case, Frisk would be proud that I didn't end up killing the little bugger. Though…there was no way I could totally be sure since Frisk wasn't here in the Underground.

"Frisk…" I murmured sadly as I leaned my skull against the window pane. It had been two weeks since King Asgore died and Frisk left the Underground. And now that I've had plenty of time to think about it, I understood why the kid just up and left without a single sign that they were going to return. The poor kid had seen King Asgore get murdered _and_ died a horrible death countless times, all in _one_ day. It was no wonder that Frisk had gotten discouraged and just wanted to leave. And knowing them…they were probably feeling guilty about Asgore's death too.

But Frisk shouldn't be feeling guilty. They couldn't possibly have known that Flowey was going to kill the King or steal the souls. And if they didn't know something, how could they have expected it? No, none of the blame should be rested on their shoulders. It should, and is, resting on mine. While I didn't know that Flowey was planning to kill the King, I knew he was dangerous. Dangerous enough that I had to put my laziness aside and hunt him down. But despite my best efforts, I failed. Because of my failure, the Underground is grieving their lost King and those who knew Frisk personally are badly missing them. Me included.

I sighed with regret and as I moved my boney hand to scratch my skull or something like that, my fingers came across something smooth in my coat pocket. Brought out of my musings, I grabbed the smooth item and took it out of my pocket, seeing that it was none other than my phone. Right then and there, I had an idea. An idea that may or may not work but it was an idea that I had to follow through in any case. I owe the kid that much at least.

So with a deep breath of preparation, I dialed a number I had gotten from Papyrus shortly before Asgore's death. As Frisk's phone rang, my heart leapt to my throat in hopeful anticipation, at least it would have if I had a literal heart. Or a throat for that matter. But alas, my hopes were dashed when my call went to Frisk's voicemail.

"Sorry that I wasn't able to answer your important call, but please leave a message and I will get to you as fast as I can. So bye for now!" chimed the recording of Frisk's chipper voice, which made me feel like punched me in my metaphorical gut. To be so close yet so far…welp, at least I can leave a message.

"Heya, is anyone there…?" I asked cheerfully, even though I was feeling far from fine, let alone cheerful. When Frisk didn't personally respond by picking up my call, I continued. "Well, I'll just leave a message…"

Then I stopped, because even though I knew what I wanted to say, I didn't know exactly how to put it into words, if that made any sense. I was instantly reminded of the time in the MTT Resort, where I failed to comfort Frisk after I essentially told them I still held them responsible for the genocide in the last timeline. Suddenly determined to not fail like that again, I clenched my phone tightly and gritted my teeth before I just went for it.

"So…it's been a while." No kidding.

"The Queen returned, and is now ruling over the Underground." When I said that, another memory hit me, except this one was of me going to the Ruin's door and telling the old lady, I mean Toriel, about what had happened to Asgore. To my surprise, the door opened to reveal a tall goat lady monster in a purple-and-white dress. Before I could even say a word, she introduced herself properly and after getting my name out of me, asked me to please take her to the castle. Which despite still being in quite a bit of shock since I was beginning to think I would never actually meet the old lady in this timeline, I did. And welp, the rest is history.

"She's instated a new policy…all the humans who fall here will be treated not as enemies…but as friends. It's probably for the best anyway. The human souls the King gathered…seem to have disappeared."

Which was probably the only reason why most of the monster civilian population didn't outright revolt at that policy. They didn't have a lot of hope to begin with, so when years of capturing human souls suddenly went down the drain plus Asgore's death…everyone's hope just died completely. So they just nodded, probably thinking along the lines of, 'might as well, we're not getting out of this prison anyway.'

"So, uh, that plan ain't happening anytime soon. But even though people are heartbroken over the King…and things are looking grim for our freedom…the Queen's trying her best not to let us give up hope."

And indeed Toriel was, with all the inspirational speeches and visits to each part of the Underground she makes. She even created a new school for all the monster children in the Underground. It was also working…kind of. Because while nearly everyone was still pretty much hopeless, I have seen the other civilians wear true smiles. They were very small smiles of course, but hey, it's a start. And Toriel's efforts have only made certain monsters who didn't lose hope in the first place, like Papyrus and Undyne, get their hopes up even more.

"So, uh, hey…if we're not giving up down here…don't give up wherever you are, okay? Who knows how long it will take…but we will get out of here," I continued truthfully. After all, if I didn't have hope, why would I have made this call? And while I didn't have as much hope as say Papyrus, I still felt the need to try. Besides, my brother and Undyne both are rather persistent and determined. So I have faith that we will get out of the Underground, somehow.

"SANS! WHO ARE YOU TALKING TO?" cried one of the most beautiful voices in the world. I turned my head and saw Papyrus striding into the room, a curious expression on his skull. Another idea immediately popped into my head, making me wear my trademark smile.

"Oh, nobody," I answered normally.

"WHAT!? NOBODY!? CAN I TALK TO THEM TOO?" requested Papyrus hopefully. So far, things were going as planned.

"Here, knock yourself out," I accepted as I gave my phone to my tall yet younger brother, who took it like it was a piece of chocolate. I had to grit my teeth to not chuckle at Papyrus' wide-eyed expression when he looked at the screen.

"WAIT A SECOND…I RECOGNIZE THIS NUMBER!" exclaimed Papyrus joyfully as he quickly placed the phone next to where his ear might be if he had one. "ATTENTION, HUMAN! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS…AM NOW THE CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GUARD!"

Yep that's right, not very long after Toriel put forth her decree, Undyne retired and gave Papyrus her position. As she put it to me later, since it would be a while before we get to leave this place, she at least wanted to make her best friend's dream come true. Though of course, there was a bit of a catch but Papyrus, being true to form, didn't really mind. And I didn't mind either, as long as my brother was happy.

"IT'S EVERYTHING I'VE EVER DREAMED OF…EXCEPT OF FIGHTING, WE JUST WATER FLOWERS," explained Papyrus cheerfully. And spend a lot of time in the castle, which is where were now as a matter of fact. "SO THAT'S EVER-SO-SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT."

"AND WE'RE HELPING DR. ALPYS WITH HER RESEARCH. SHE'S GONNA FIND A WAY TO GET US OUT OF HERE. UNDYNE IS HELPING HER TOO!" Then Papyrus looked around nervously before he covered his mouth and the bottom part of the cell phone with his boney hand.

"THOUGH, TO BE HONEST," Papyrus harshly whispered just as Undyne walked into the room. "HER METHOD OF HELPING…SEEMS KIND OF…EXPLOSION-INDUCING."

"BUT I THINK ALPHYS LIKES HAVING HER AROUND," continued Papyrus as Undyne's twitch in annoyance before something that suspiciously looked like a blush appeared across her face. That was when Papyrus finally picked up his skull and saw her standing in the doorway. "UH OH…"

"Hey! What are you up to, punk!" exclaimed Undyne, a perfect picture of embarrassment and irritated as she walked up to my brother. "Ngahhhh!"

"PLEASE DON'T NOOGIE THE PHONE," asked Papyrus in a somewhat meek voice as Undyne brought her hand up to probably do exactly that.

"Hey, who's in charge here!?" yelled Undyne, sounding like she was almost outraged.

"Me?" answered Papyrus; still sounding a bit meek, resulting in Undyne looking like she had just been hit with a snowball in the face. I finally couldn't hold it in anymore, I just belted out laughing.

"SANS, YOU'RE NOT HELPING," Papyrus harshly whispered while still facing Undyne. The fish lady, for her part, just glared at me before going back to Papyrus.

"Oh…yeah," Undyne laughed good-naturally as she clamped a hand heavily on Papyrus' shoulder. "That's right! Now give me the phone."

It still somewhat surprises me that Undyne still considers Frisk one of her besties after what had happened. After Flowey finally left the Judgement Hall, I reluctantly called the Head of the Royal Guard and told her about Asgore's death. Not very long after, Undyne came rushing into the Hall, her single eye burning with fury and grief. Even though I was afraid that Undyne was going to end up abhorring the kid again, I took her to the barrier room.

Once again, I had to see Undyne cry again, and it wasn't any easier than it was in the last timeline. When she finally pulled herself together and asked the details about our kind-hearted King's murder, I told her the truth. Or, at least most of it. I couldn't very well tell her about time loading again and again, so instead I just wanted to see how the King and the kid were doing. But I did tell her about my confrontation with Flowey, how he admitted to killing Asgore and fighting Frisk, and even how he managed to survive and run away from me. And last but not least…I told her that Frisk had left the Underground.

However, instead of holding the kid partly responsible for the King's death since they were fighting the King too and all, Undyne just sighed and muttered poor kid. She then left to inform the rest of the Underground of what had occur, but not before telling me that Flowey wasn't going to get away with this. It was clear by the look in her slightly tear-filled green eye that she wouldn't rest till her beloved mentor's murderer was slaughtered by her own two blue hands.

"I quit my job as leader of the Royal Guard," explained Undyne after Papyrus willingly gave her the phone. "Actually, since we won't be fighting anymore because of the policy thing and all…The Royal Guard totally disbanded. There's, uh, only one member now."

"BUT HE'S EXTREMELY GOOD," added Papyrus as he leaned over so he could speak into the cell phone.

"Yeah! He is! C'mere!" cried Undyne as she grabbed Papyrus around the shoulders with one scaly arm and brought him close to her.

"PLEASE DON'T NOOGIE THE SKELETON," Papyrus requested in vain as Undyne have a good head noogie to my brother.

"Anyways, now I'm working as Alphy's lab assistant…" continued Undyne after she released Papyrus, who was currently rubbing the top of his skull. "We're gonna find a way out of this dump once and for all!"

"Oh, yeah, and I'm a gym teacher at the Queen's new school. Did you know I can bench-press seven children!?" No, but I'm not surprised.

"Awesome, right? Hey…" said Undyne before suddenly becoming solemn. "I'm sorry about what happened with Asgore. You were just doing what you had to do. It's not your fault he…"

Undyne then gritted her teeth and clenched her fist, like she was either trying to not cry again or punch the nearby wall. Or maybe both. Even though she hasn't told anyone, I know for a fact that she was searching for Flowey in her spare time. No, scratch that. She has been keeping an eye out for him _all_ the time. And I would definitely be lying if I said that I hoped that she would never find that horrible and despicable monster.

"Ah, darn it. I miss the big guy," said Undyne with a sigh, her green eye full of sadness. Then she shook her head and slap her face, which judging by the sound had to have hurt quite a bit.

"Come on Undyne, snap out of it!" Undyne told herself before taking a deep breath. "Uh, I'll guess I tell you how Alphys is doing. Well, she's the same as ever. Maybe a little more reclusive than normal. Seems like something's really bothering her…but she can get through it! I'm there supporting her! That's what friends are for, right?"

"Hey, where-ever you are…I hope it's better than here." Me too Undyne. Me too.

"It took a lot of sacrifice for you to get there…so, where-ever you are, you have to try to be happy, okay!? For our sakes! We'll feel better knowing our trouble was worth it. We're all with you! Everyone is! Even the Queen!"

"HEYYY! Wait a second!" exclaimed Undyne as realization hit her. "TORIEL! TORIEL! Do you wanna…"

"Uh Undyne, I think she might be busy like a queen bee at the moment," I quickly interrupted her. It wasn't that I didn't want Toriel to talk to the child she loves as her own but I'm pretty sure Frisk's voicemail box was going to become full soon. If it hasn't already. Wait, do voicemail boxes even have limits? Welp, better safe than sorry. Especially since I still have something to say to Frisk.

"Heh, she says she's busy," Undyne lied, though it was probably the truth.

"BUT IF SHE KNEW WHO WE WERE TALKING TO…" Papyrus interjected with his finger, looking very close to protesting.

"We wouldn't get the phone back for at least a few hours," I said as I got up from my seat and walked towards my brother and Undyne.

"WE HAVE THE MERCY TO SPARE YOU FROM HER!" Papyrus then exclaimed into the phone, apparently agreeing with me. His blunt statement made me chuckle though. Seriously, how can anyone hate my brother?

"But call back anytime okay?! She'd love to talk!" added Undyne. And indeed Toriel would. Because while she was glad that Frisk made it out of the Underground, she also admitted to me with moist eyes that she did miss them. While I reflected on the memory, I happened to see how much power my phone had left. Which was only 1 percent.

"Oh, whoops. This thing's almost out of batteries," I said calmly even though inside I was getting just a bit anxious. I then quickly grabbed the phone out of Undyne's hands with my blue magic and brought it up to my skull. "So, hate to cut this short, but…be seeing you, ok, buddy?"

"BYE BYE FOR NOW!" exclaimed Papyrus cheerfully next to the phone, even though he looked sad to be saying good-bye already.

"See ya, punk!" added Undyne loudly with a wave, even though we all knew that Frisk wouldn't be able to see it. But I didn't say anything of course, especially when I noticed Undyne was looking solemn again.

When both Undyne and Papyrus moved backwards and the battery was seconds away from dying, I found my chance. I quickly took a deep breath and muttered my last few words to Frisk. For now anyway. Hopefully.

"But before we find a way out of here…please…come back." I then hung up.

 **UT**

"Wait…what the?!" I exclaimed when I found myself in the comfortable setting of Grillby's diner. It had only been a few hours since my phone-call to Frisk and I was getting ready for bed when suddenly…I was here.

"You're alright Sans?" asked Grillby softly, his voice and eyes full of concern. Grillby didn't speak much, but when he did you couldn't just ignore or brush him off. I don't know why exactly, but he's just one of those people where if you did do that, you would immediately feel like you committed a heinous crime. Like Papyrus.

"I…I think so?" I asked, still out of it and feeling really bewildered. Then suddenly, realization hit me like one of Undyne's pats on the back.

"What day is it?" I quickly asked, my metaphorical heart beating rapidly in my chest as hope began to rise within me.

"Wednesday," answered Grillby, still clearly concerned about me. Wednesday. The day I talked to Frisk in the Judgement Hall, went to Grillby's, went through that reloading nightmare, and confronted Flowey, was a Wednesday.

"They…they reloaded," I muttered, a huge part of me feeling like this couldn't be true, like I was imagining things or I was in a dream. But no, I could feel the grains of the wooden counter under my boney fingers and my surroundings looked too real to only be in my head. This was really happening. Frisk was really back.

At that thought, I felt like my soul had left my body and was now flying among the clouds in total bliss. But before my soul could do a loop-de-loop, I realized what Frisk was planning to do. Since I was still in the restaurant, I felt it safe to assume that our beloved King, was alive again, which was a blessing within itself. But that also means that Frisk was probably planning to confront the King again, but this time protect him from Flowey. And there was no way I was going to let them do this alone. Not after what had happened last time.

"Don't worry Grillby, I'm perfectly fine, but there's something really important I have to do so I have to go!" I exclaimed hurriedly as I stood up from my chair. "Just put it on my tab!"

Just when Grillby looked like he was about to protest, I teleported straight to the area in front of the barrier room. While I felt bad for leaving my bartender friend like that, I had to. I had another chance to help Frisk, to save them, and I wasn't going to let it go to waste.

But then, just when I took a step while preparing myself to enter a battle, Frisk came out of the barrier room. They looked just the same as I last saw them, their brown eyes bright with determination and a cheerful smile on their face. When Frisk noticed me standing there, a bit shocked, they looked surprised. Then their smile stretched from ear to ear.

"I'm back," Frisk said gently, sounding genuinely happy as the kid became misty-eyed. Before I knew it, I had crossed the distance between us and had pulled the little kid into my arms.

 **Yay a happy ending...for this chapter anyway. So, what did you think? Was Sans in character? Frisk? What do you think is going to happen next exactly? In any case, please write me your very important thoughts in a review and I will get back to you...sometime. I plan for this whole story to be finished by November so...yeah. Hopefully it won't be 2 full months till the next chapter. Hopefully. Welp, no matter what, I'm so grateful for you guys for being so patient!**


	13. Chapter 13

**I...I wrote this in less than a month...I WROTE THIS IN LESS THAN A MONTH! Oh yeah, I'm on my way back to my writing groove baby! hehe...yeah.**

 **Guest: That's an interesting idea. We should wait and see!**

 **Guest from chapter 1: If you happen to read this, that was a typo. I meant to put they. Though, Frisk/Chara are any character that you/I want them to be, so if I wanted Frisk to be a boy/girl, then I am allowed to! And you are too! I just use (or try to) they so that people can imagine their preference for those two characters.**

 **I don't own Undertale. As always.**

 **Consequences**

"Um…what am I doing here?" I asked myself as I looked around the Judgement Hall. When nothing seemed out of the ordinary, I scratched the back of my skull as if that could unblock my memory. But unfortunately, all I could remember was that I was about to do something very important.

"How curious…did you really forget Sans? You're here to see me." Instantly, I felt a chill up my spine and my soul couldn't help but shiver. My instincts screaming danger and all potential sounds caught in my metaphorical throat, I began to turn around. Dread filled every inch of my skeletal body and it wasn't because the voice was menacing and sinister. No, it was because it sounded hauntingly familiar.

Then, what seemed like eternity, I finally turned around. And what I saw…it couldn't be true. This…this just couldn't be real. But no matter how much I told myself that, I couldn't deny who was in front of my eye-sockets and clattering body.

"Chara," I whispered in terror as I stared right into Frisk's devilish red eyes. Chara then smiled, a wide smile that was just dripping of evil bloodlust. A smile that had no business on Frisk's innocent face.

"Why are you so afraid Sans?" asked Chara as they tilted their head, a delighted and malicious expression on their face instead of a concerned one. "I thought you wanted me to burn in Hell."

"This isn't….you…you shouldn't be here! In Frisk!" I pointed out, finally pulling myself together. "Frisk got control over their body long enough to reset the timeline! They then made sure to not kill anyone, which means you shouldn't have been able to possess them again!"

Whatever reaction or response I was expecting, it surely wasn't Chara throwing Frisk's head back and laughing like I had just told the funniest pun ever. And it wasn't the joyful kind either, where you couldn't help but smile and feel happy that you've made someone laugh. It was the evil psychotic kind, where you couldn't help but feel unnerved and want to run far, far away.

"That…is just so hilarious Sans! You're really are a comedian!" cried Chara mockingly when they were finally done laughing. "I mean, you really thought that Frisk killing almost every monster in the Underground in that timeline wasn't going to have a consequence?!"

"That wasn't Frisk, that was you!" I yelled, as I clenched my fists in anger. How dare the…the _demon_ put all their sins on little Frisk's shoulders?! The one they forcefully possessed to do what they wanted?!

"True true," admitted Chara as they reached inside of Frisk's sweater and took out a knife. The very same knife they used to slaughter every monster in their path…the same one that killed Undyne and Mettaton…and my brother.

"But I am technically dead…" they continued as they waved their knife in front of me. "And it is technically Frisk's hands who are covered with dust."

It was then that I noticed it. The knife was covered with dust. And to my growing horror, it wasn't just the knife. Dust also covered Frisk's hands, their striped sweater, and their blue shorts. There was even some on Frisk's cheeks and forehead. How…how in the Underground did I not notice that before?!

"Who…who did you kill?" I said softly, as I immediately thought about all the monsters that I knew and loved. If…if even one of them died again...if my brother died again…I…I wouldn't be able to take it…

"Instead of telling you…let me show you," suggest Chara as they reached into their pocket. Then slowly, they pulled an item out. An item that was red, soft, and long. An item that was precious in my brother's eyes.

"N-No," I brokenly said while I shook my head, my heart breaking down and my breaths beginning to come out erratic and raspy. My body, which had stopped clattering a bit before, was now clattering in full force as my soul felt like it was falling inside a dark and endless hole.

"Oh Sans, why do you feel so bad?" asked Chara as they wrapped Papyrus' scarf around their head. "He died several times before, so you should be used to it by now. And I haven't even told you Papyrus wasn't the only one who got erased tonight yet. Oops, I guess I just did."

"N-No no…" I replied as I placed my boney hands on my skull as I involuntarily took a few unsteady steps backwards. My breathing got even worse as grief and horror began to overwhelm me.

"In any case, you will have no choice to get used to your loved ones' death, because I will always be with little naïve Frisk now," continued Chara. "Because even if they manage to take over and reset again, I will find a way make this body mine again. And if Frisk somehow manages to do it yet again, I will find a way to take control and eradicate everything in this pointless world and the next."

"No…" I murmured as I brought my hands down, a new but not unfamiliar feeling taking over me.

"This holds true for the time after that, and the time after that," continued Chara like they haven't heard me, or noticed that my hands were now clenched. "Because no matter how much determination or sentimentality Frisk has, they will never win the war, because I am the demon that comes whenever and wherever people call me! And together, my partner and I will continue to get stronger and erase everything, no matter how many ti…"

"SHUT UP!" I finally screamed, my eye pupils disappearing as I summoned a giant bone and sent it straight at Chara's chest. Too preoccupied with monologuing, they couldn't react fast enough to dodge it. As a result, the demon became a Chara kabob, with no absolutely chance of surviving.

"Did you really forget that I have also killed you twice before?" I growled as Chara coughed up blood then gasped for air like a fish. "You may be always there, but don't you _dare_ forget that I will always be there, ready to finish you…"

"S-Sans?" Instantly, all my rage was gone, to be replaced with a new horror. My eye-pupils came back as my soul began to be wracked with realization and guilt. A part of me tried so desperately to deny it, but the rest of me couldn't be convinced. Because the sight of the bleeding brown-eyed child, dying by my own bone, looked too real to be a delusion.

"I t-thought…you w-were…going t-to be…my r-really g-good friend…from now on?" Frisk asked, their face twisted with pain and betrayal while my heart felt like it had been shot with one of my own bones. Then, before I could respond, Frisk took one last raspy breath, closed their warm brown eyes, and started to fall.

"FRISK!" I cried as I raced forward and caught them in my boney arms. "No, I am your friend! I just…"

The rest of my words died on my inexistent tongue as I recalled back on what had just happened. When Chara admitted that they had killed Papyrus and everyone else, and that they would do it again if they had the chance, I lost it. I instantly attacked them, with no thought for whose body Chara was occupying. With absolutely no thought for my dear friend's life, I attacked to kill.

And judging by the way Frisk's head hung backwards and just how their whole body lied limply in my arms, I was…successful. Sure, I might have killed Chara the psychotic demon, but I also killed Frisk the loving pacifist. The one I've sworn to protect and promised to support. The one I considered to be my close friend. And yet in the end…I was the one who killed them mercilessly. For the third time.

"I'm s-sorry…" I choked out as I magically evaporated the bone with a shaky snap. My body shaking and clattering yet again, I pulled Frisk's body closer to me and dug my skull into their shoulder. "I d-didn't want t-this…I…r-really d-didn't…p-please…p-please f-forgive me Frisk…F-Frisk…FRISK!"

"SANS! WAKE UP!" With a sudden jolt, I was no longer in the Judgement Hall, holding Frisk's body for dear life while sobbing my soul out. Instead, I was sitting straight up on my bed, tears streaming down from my eye-sockets and breathing heavily. But what caught my attention was Frisk staring up at me, a worried and concerned expression on their face.

"Frisk?" I whispered, my mind whirring and confused while my soul was overwhelmed with a mix of heavy and indescribable emotions. It was then that I remembered that after they had reloaded, Frisk agreed to spend the rest of the day and night at our house. We then spent the day having a snowball fight with Papyrus and Undyne among other such fun activities. And a fight in the Judgement Hall was definitely not among them. Frisk just nodded and took my hand and brought it up to their face.

"I'm here Sans," they said soothingly. "It was just a bad dream, I'm right here..."

"Fr…Frisk!" I cried as I quickly pulled Frisk into my arms and hugged them tight. I then sobbed into their shoulder, while their steady and _wonderful_ heartbeat vibrated against my ribs. Frisk rubbed circles over the bones that made up my back as my whole body heaved with every other sob.

"I'm…I'm…" I tried to choke out as I continued to hug Frisk like a lifeline, a lifeline that I thought I had brutally murdered. For a third time. "I'm s-sorry…"

"For what?" the young child asked gently as they continued to rub comforting circles on my backbones.

"F-for…k…ki…for k-killing you," I managed to confess. Frisk's small body instantly stiffened and I heard a gasp come from their mouth. Then, to my surprise, I felt their body relax and let out a sigh that was not full of anger or shock.

"You had to though," Frisk replied, true honesty underlining their words. "It was the only way to stop Chara…"

"But you still died!" I interrupted them, my guilt too strong to be appeased that easily. "You were still in pain Frisk! I still caused you pain!"

"Honestly…it didn't hurt as bad as killing Toriel, Papyrus, Undyne, Mettaton, and the rest of the monsters," murmured Frisk. At that comment, tears stopped streaming down from my eye-sockets. I then pushed Frisk back and saw that their guilt and surprisingly, fear, was written all over their young face.

"Because even though I couldn't control my body…even though I wasn't exactly all there…I couldn't help but care for them…for all of you," Frisk continued as they turned their face downwards.

"Frisk…" I whispered, both a bit touched and not sure on what I should say. But before I could figure out the right words to comfort them, the kid continued.

"So…it…it scares me that…that Chara might control me again…like they almost did when I fought with Asgore." If I actually had a literal heart, it surely would have skipped a beat and if I had blood, I bet it would have turned into ice.

"What?" I asked, hoping against all hope that I've heard wrong. That Chara is still gone and I will never have to face them again.

"When Asgore was fighting me, I tried _so_ hard to not fight back. I tried talking to him, but he wouldn't listen. I tried to spare him, but he never gave me the chance. It wasn't long before…I realized that fighting was the only way," Frisk explained, tears appearing in their brown eyes.

"Then…when I finally did fight back…I…I heard their voice! Chara told me that since he was trying to kill me, it was only fair that I killed him! That it was a life for a life situation! I tried to ignore them but they would only get louder! It…it took everything I had to not listen and spare Asgore after I defeated him!"

Right after Frisk finished confessing, they burst into tears and sobbed into their shaking hands. For a moment, I could only sit there and watch Frisk sob their face out. My mind and soul, still whacked from my nightmare and guilt, was now whirling from this new…information. Should I feel relieved that Frisk overcame Chara or should I feel worried that Chara isn't actually gone? Should I feel angry that Chara is still trying to control my little friend or should I feel terrified that my nightmare might end up coming true?

"I…I d-don't…I can't kill any of you guys again! I can't! I love you all too much!" cried Frisk, sounding both terrified and somewhat heartbroken. This instantly caused me to grit my teeth and curse Chara. Why…why can't they just leave Frisk alone?! Why do they have to be so manipulative and bloodthirsty?! Why can't Chara just die, once and for all?!

Frisk then let out a loud and heart-wrenching sob that stopped me in my tracks. As I watched them cry, I knew that I couldn't let this go on. It hurt too much to see them suffer, and they didn't deserve to suffer like this. I had to comfort Frisk, even though my soul was still very much wracked from my nightmare and guilt. There was no other choice.

"Frisk…" I started to say before I realized that I didn't know what to say. What are the right words to say in this situation? What are the words that are going to make everything alright? What are the words that will give Frisk new determination to keep on trying and not be afraid?

"FRISK IS THAT YOU?" Then suddenly, my bedroom door flew open to reveal Papyrus looking quite worried.

"P-Papyrus…" I quivered, instantly remembered my grief from Papyrus' death in my nightmare.

"SANS, WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE HUMAN?" asked my lovely brother as he strode towards and picked Frisk up and hugged them. "ARE THEY SICK? THEY DID HAVE A WHOLE LOT OF MY GREAT SPAGHETTI…MAYBE IT WAS TOO MUCH FOR THEIR SMALL BODY?"

Words got stuck in my mouth as I looked at my concerned brother rubbing Frisk's back as they clung to Papyrus like he could turn to dust any second. What…what am I supposed to say? Papyrus can't know the truth but…Frisk needs to be relieved of the fear that Chara could control them again. Then again…I don't know the answer on how to do that.

"S-Something like that," I finally muttered, having reluctantly decided that once I find the right words, I will tell them to Frisk when we were alone. And besides, if I decided to tell the truth, then I will have to tell Papyrus all about what happened in that timeline…and I just can't do that.

"OH POOR HUMAN, IT'S OKAY, I UNDERSTAND THAT IT'S HARD TO RESTRAIN YOURSELF WHEN IT COMES TO MY SPAGHETTI," said Papyrus soothingly as he continued rubbing their back. However, to my surprise, he was also looking at me like he was trying to read my soul.

"Pap…"

"BROTHER, DID YOU HAVE ANOTHER NIGHTMARE? YOU LOOK ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE." Taken back, my mouth dropped open as the memory of my nightmare rushed by in my head. My body then started to clatter slightly, as I fought to control my overwhelming emotions.

"May…maybe?" I finally managed to answer. Before I could regret not brushing my nightmare off like I did the last time Papyrus confronted me, my brother leaned over and picked me up. All while still carrying Frisk in his arms.

"WELL, NEVER FEAR SANS! FOR I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AM HERE AND I WILL COMFORT AND PROTECT YOU AS WELL AS FRISK!" he responded as he held both me and Frisk tightly. And that was the last straw. While I didn't sob, I did hug my brother and Frisk as I dug my face into his shoulder and let a few tears free. All the while wondering, when and how this…this _convoluted mess_ was going to be resolved. And if it ever truly can.

 **Welp...can I just say...I actually was not planning on putting Chara into this story. But when I got to thinking how I was going to write this chapter, and how I was going to write my own thing yet still stay faithful to cannon...the idea of the nightmare came up. And...it was just friskin _perfect._ Though...poor Sans and Frisk. Just...poor them. When will Chara leave them alone?! **

**In any case...did you like how I wrote Chara? Were they in character? Did I manage to make them scary/freaky? How did you feel during this fic? Well please tell me in a review and please do not be afraid to be honest. I plan on updating in about two weeks from now (fingers crossed!) so till then, have a good day/night! I hope this chapter was to your liking and thank you all for being so supportive so far!**


	14. Chapter 14

**I did it...I actually finished right before Christmas! Once again, I am so sorry about the long wait, I just hope you will forgive me and will love this chapter!**

 **RainatheRogue: Thank you and sorry for breaking your heart so many times. And the new heart that I owe you should be working by the end of this story...which truly doesn't have that much to go.**

 **Guest: Thank you and here you go!**

 **Megan Flowey: Why thank you and never!**

 **I don't own Undertale.**

 **The True Lab**

Frisk managed to cry themself to sleep shortly after that and I quickly followed suit, though it was more because I was in my brother's comforting presence and not because of my tears. Though I guess I would be lying if all the tears I let loose last night didn't have a part in it.

In any case, early the next morning I found myself snuggling against Papyrus' side in his racecar bed with Frisk also snuggling against him on his other side. After a quick observation about how Papyrus' bed surprisingly can fit three people comfortingly, I went back to sleep. I awoke again some time after that, but this time I was alone in the bed. Noticing that Papyrus' clock read 10 o'clock, I got up and went downstairs, surprised that my brother let me slept in this late.

Papyrus, Undyne, and Frisk were nowhere to be seen or heard but I did find a post-it note sticking on the fridge. The note said that there were leftover spaghetti muffins in the fridge before explaining that Undyne had given Frisk a love letter to give to Alphys before regretting it and running after the kid. Papyrus then left in his workout clothes because one, he always ran in them and two, as a friend, he had to see this through to the end. Papyrus then ended the note by saying that I shouldn't expect my lazy bones to sleep in every day before the words 'love, the greatest brother in the world, Papyrus.'

I immediately smiled, the memories of what had happened last night pushed to the side temporarily. And it wasn't because of Papyrus' love and concern for me, though that did warm my metaphorical heart up quite a bit. It also wasn't because of the situation my brother, Frisk, Undyne, and Alphys have found themselves in, though it was amusing as all get out. No, it was simply because I finally had proof that Undyne liked the little dinosaur monster.

I then reluctantly took out a spaghetti muffin for Papyrus' sake and ate it before I teleported straight Asgore's castle. Because if there was one thing I learned before Frisk reloaded, it was that Flowey was in the castle, waiting for Frisk to fight Asgore again. Probably. Flowey was aware of the timelines after all, so he might want to change tactics. But then he was a stubborn fellow too, so really, who knows. In any case, I had to start somewhere so I might as well as search the castle while Frisk is off helping Undyne and Alphys with Papyrus.

At the thought of the little kid, I sighed as I kept walking with my eye-sockets peeled. Even though I have been going over several options in my head, I still couldn't find the right way to resolve Frisk's…recent development. Because while I definitely knew how to use magic, I didn't know how to exorcise Chara for good without hurting Frisk. Heck, I don't know if there even is magic for that, or if I even have the ability to cast such a spell. And while I am still going to search for exorcism magic regardless, I still need words that will boost Frisk's determination. And I am as stuck on what to say as I was last night.

"Oh kiddo, what am I supposed to do?" I muttered as I walked through the halls. I sighed as I absentmindedly rubbed my cell phone in jacket pocket when I was suddenly hit with a realization. I never turned on my phone today.

"Oh smooth move Sans," I reprimanded myself as I took out my sleeping phone and pushed the button to wake it up. "What if the kid or Papyrus needed ya?"

When the phone finally turned on, I immediately got a notification that someone had left a message in my voicemail. Hoping that it was just Papyrus asking where I was, I quickly entered my voicemail, entered the passcode, and impatiently waited while the annoying voicemail lady confirm what I already knew.

"Hey Sans," Frisk's voice rang out, their voice for some reason uneasy. "Um…I called Alphys but she didn't answer so…don't freak out or anything but…to make a long story short…I was in Alphys' lab elevator when it suddenly…broke and crashed to the ground."

If I actually had a literal heart, it surely would have skipped a beat at that last statement. If not more.

"I'm okay though! Really! I'm just alone in a…very dark and creepy lab…oh that's why the elevator crashed! The power's out! I just need to figure out on how to turn it back on and I'm good! See ya Sans, I got a scary lab to explore!"

For a moment, I just stood there silently as the voicemail lady told me a list of options, my mind not computing what Frisk just said. Then it did.

"What the heck?!" I cried as I placed a hand on the top of my skull. "Frisk…you…ah, I…ugh, I just can't stay here!"

In the next moment, I was in the underground lab right by the elevator. Quickly shaking my skull so I wouldn't get overloaded by past memories, I then immediately looked around me but as I unfortunately expected, Frisk was nowhere to be seen in the dimly lit hallway and the elevator doors were closed.

"Frisk!" I called out, cupping my boney hands around my hands. I waited a few anxious moments but to my ever-growing worry, I heard no wonderful reply. If I had lips I probably would have bit them in anxiety and to block out another attack of currently unwanted memories. As it was though, I just took in a deep breath and let it out as I walked down the hallway.

"Frisk! Where are ya bucko?!" I called again as I came upon the end of the hallway. When once again I didn't hear Frisk answer me, I took the only turn the hallway offered and gritted my teeth.

"Seriously Frisk, seriously? I got a scary lab to explore?! Right after you just survived an elevator crash?!" I harshly exclaimed as I hurriedly walked into the lobby. "Oh why do you have to be so independent and curious?! What were you doing in Alphys' elevator anyway?! This lab isn't that safe!"

When that last comment left my nonexistent lips, my boney legs instinctively slowed to a stop as I force to remember why I truly believed that. It was quite a number of years ago, when Papyrus was still in school and I still wanted to live my life-long dream, to be a scientist. And not just any scientist, I wanted to be one of the scientists that found another way to break the barrier.

And it looked like I was going to fulfill that dream too. I had finally finished school and I was picked to work beside the Royal Scientist, the one before Alphys took the reins. He was a skeleton called W.D. Gaster, and I admired him, because he was the one who created the Core that brought power to all the Underground, including mine and Papyrus' house in Snowdin. I was really happy and excited to start working with him.

But on that very first day I started working with him…Gaster had told me he had made a time machine but he didn't have enough power in the lab so he needed my help to bring it to the Core. I did so very willingly, believing that I was helping to change our future for the better. But when we finally got there and Gaster ordered me to plug the machine in…everything went wrong.

Instead of booting up successfully, the machine went haywire and…there were a lot of bright lights and sparks but I am sure of two things. One, I got greatly shocked as soon as I plugged the time machine in. Two, the machine jolted and jumped around with so much force that when it crashed against Gaster…the Royal Scientist could only flail his arms and scream as he fell into the Core.

Shocked and terrified, I ran to get help, only to realize very quickly that…no one remembered him. And since he wasn't photogenic, there weren't any pictures to help me convince the others that I wasn't going through a mental breakdown. It didn't take long for me to realize that somehow, because the time machine crashed into Gaster, the former Royal Scientist had been erased from existence. And I was the only one who remembered him, probably because I got shocked from the Time Machine.

Realizing how close I was to dying, and leaving Papyrus alone in the world, I decided I will never come back to the lab because even though the accident didn't happen there, I knew that other accidents could and welp…I didn't want to risk it. So right after I took the now broken time machine to our house's basement, I quit being a scientist and became a sentry instead.

And now here I am, back to where all this started, in a way for me at least. Welp, at least I'm just getting Frisk out of here, not undergoing a dangerous science experiment. Shaking my skull in order to get out of memory lane, I continued walking and searching. I had wasted too much time.

"Frisk! Answer if ya hear me! Frisk!" I continued as I quickly found myself in a freezer room. "Fr…"

Once again I stopped, but not because I was forced to go on a trip down memory lane. A small gasp involuntarily left my mouth as shock and horror filled my soul and chained my boney feet down to the floor. I felt shivers go up my spine and terror stopped any words or wordless sounds coming out of metaphorical lips as I started at the… _creature_ before me.

He...she…it had a white tree looking thing with green leaves on its forehead, and on either side of it were two brown coconut things. The rest of its body looked like it belonged to some kind of blue bird monster and it…it was _melting_. It was melting just the way Undyne was when she fought Chara in that horrible timeline!

"S…Sa…" it drawled as it took a few straggling and painful-looking steps towards me. Wait, why did that voice sound familiar? And now that I think about it, why did the monster look kind of familiar too? "Sa…ns?"

Sa…ns? What is it trying to say…wait. Is it trying to say my name?!

"Sa…ns…how…is…Sn…o…wy?" it continued as it struggled to take another few steps towards me. Sn…o…wy? Snowy? Isn't that Snowdrake's nickname...oh no. _Oh no._ It can't be…she fell...she's dead! She shouldn't be here, let alone…like this! All melting and…and with a tree thing on her head and two…are those two coconuts actually vegetoids?!

"Mrs. Snowdrake?" I whispered, hoping with every inch of my body that I was wrong, that Mrs. Snowdrake is actually resting in peace right now, not in front of me, in pain, and with two vegetoids merged with her head.

"Y…es?" And just like that I couldn't be in denial anymore.

"Oh my…" I said softly as I brought my boney hand up to my mouth. If I was going to say anything else, the world will never know because right then, a different voice came to the horrifying scene.

"Mrs. Snowdrake, it's time for…Sans?!" I turned around and saw Alphys behind me, looking both surprised and startled as she stared at me with frightened black eyes. And behind her were… _even more_ poor creatures like Mrs. Snowdrake. I honestly feel like I'm going to throw up…even though I don't have a stomach, let alone food in one.

"W-What…are y-you doing h-here?!" exclaimed Alphys. "Y-You haven't b-been…"

"What am I doing here?!" I finally exclaimed, not able to keep my emotions in anymore. "I…"

Then I stopped, Alphys' question finally registering in my nonexistent brain. Oh my grup, I forgot all about Frisk! Again! In order to calm myself down, I took in a deep breath and let it out.

"Alphys, as much as I want to know what in the frisking heck is going on…and trust me, I _will_ find out, I'll unfortunately have to get those answers later. Have you seen Frisk? I got a voicemail saying that the kid got trapped down here…"

"Oh, d-don't worry, F-Frisk is f-fine!" exclaimed the dinosaur monster hurriedly and nervously. "They g-got the p-power back o-on and I b-believe they w-were on their w-way to the o-other elevator…"

"Thank you," I said curtly as I started to briskly walk out of the room. But when I past Alphys, I stopped because the poor creatures were crowding the doorway and…I didn't have the metaphorical heart to make them move. "And don't forget, you're telling me what in the Underground happened to them."

"D-Don't worry…I was planning to anyway." I looked back at her and saw that Alphys was wearing a scared yet determined expression on her face. Not quite unlike Frisk's own determined expressions.

I then nodded at her before immediately teleporting. While a voice in the back of my head was worried that I might have scared Mrs. Snowdrake and the others, I _really_ didn't have any more time to waste. Seeing the condition Mrs. Snowdrake and the other poor monsters only reinforced the idea that the lab isn't a safe place, especially for small children who just survived an elevator crash. Sure Alphys said they were fine, but I wanted to see that for myself. Especially since Frisk most likely came across the poor creatures too. Oh grup, if the kid wasn't traumatized before they are surely traumatized now.

Then before I knew it, I was in front of the back elevator. And immediately I breathed a sigh in relief. Frisk was in the elevator, and really did look quite fine. Sure they looked a bit unnerved and their sweater had…sticky colored spots that probably came from the poor creatures, but other than that, they looked okay. And more importantly, they were safe now.

"Frisk!" I cried as I began to race towards them. Frisk turned around and when they saw me, they had a relieved smile on their face.

"Sans!" the little kid cried back as they started to race towards me. Then suddenly, just as Frisk was about to leave the elevator, the doors slammed closed.

"Oh dagnabbit!" I exclaimed, feeling extremely frustrated. I had just _finally_ caught up with Frisk and the elevator decides right then to do its job?!

"Ugh…oh welp, at least the kid is leaving the lab…" I muttered to myself as I rubbed my forehead. "And I can just teleport up there. Yeah, that's not so bad…"

And as soon as I said that last word, the ground shook so terribly that I lost my balance and fell harshly to the ground.

 **Welp...that's an ending! What is it with me and these kind of cliffhanger endings? And on Christmas Eve too!**

 **So...what did you think?** **How did the chapter flow? How was Sans' reaction to Mrs. Snowdrake? Was the backstory part just out of nowhere or did it explain Sans' behavior/fears in this chapter well enough? And don't worry, I plan to bring Sans' backstory back later...and when I do it will explain an important aspect of Sans. I hope.**

 **In any case, please leave a review on your way out before you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!**

 **P.S. I am thinking about possibly doing a more detailed one-shot about the whole Gaster incident...what do you think? I will probably set up a poll about it when this story is over.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Booyah. No excuses for the super long wait (though I am sorry) just...booyah.**

 **Thank you to all the reviewers who have supported me thus far but here are the ones I wasn't able to PM back.**

 **Lightstorm32: Thank you! I'm glad that the chapters got better as they got along and boy, that must have been one long sitting!**

 **Nox Lunaria: Okay one: Yeah, I noticed that I have Frisk down as a she ( _and_ a he for some reason) and I'm with you, I also see Frisk as a girl. I put them as you say it, gender neutral, in this story so that the reader can decide if Frisk is a girl or a boy. Just like with the game. Two, Thank you so much for your comments and here is the chapter you have waited about a month for! You lucky duck!**

 **I still don't own Undertale.**

 **Intervention**

"Ugh," I groaned as I opened my eye-sockets wearily, despite my pounding skull wanting my eye-sockets to stay closed. My vision was blurry at first, but after blinking a few times, my vision cleared up and I saw that I was lying on the floor in front of an elevator. Before I could decipher anything else about my situation, my cell phone rang.

"Ooo," I moaned as each ring felt like someone had taken a hammer to the top part of my skull. So I quickly but a bit shakily grabbed the phone out of my pocket and brought it up to my mouth.

"What's up?" I answered as soon as I flipped it open and pushed the accept button.

"SANS!" cried Papyrus' wonderful voice more loudly than usual, making me wince in pain as I instinctively pulled the phone away from me. "I DON'T KNOW WHERE YOU'RE LAZING ABOUT BUT STOP IT! YOUR PRECENSE IS EXTREMELY NEEDED!"

"My presence is extremely needed where bro?" I asked as I sat up. Luckily, it only took a bit of a struggle to do so and my skull didn't hurt so much anymore, so bonus there.

"IN FRONT OF THE KING! THE HUMAN NEEDS US!"

"The human...Frisk?! The kid is meeting up with Asgore?! Right now?!" I cried, too worried and in pain to keep my voice calm and collected. I knew that the kid planned to confront King Asgore again but I wasn't expecting them to do it already. Just how long was I friskin' out?

"YES! THOUGH I MIGHT CALL IT A FIGHT MORE THAN A MEET UP…BUT THAT'S WHY WE'RE NEEDED! WE'RE GOING TO STOP THE TWO OF THEM FROM FIGHTING! I'VE ALREADY CALLED UNDYNE AND ALPHYS AND THEY AGREED TO COME; NOW WE JUST NEED YOUR HELP BROTHER!" I never agreed with my brilliant brother more.

"Agreed," I replied as I picked myself up with hardly any struggle and a now tolerable headache. "Are you there yet bro?"

"I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL BE THERE IN A SEC! SO I GOTTA HANG UP NOW!"

"Okay, see ya in a sec…" I managed to say before Papyrus hung up. So…this definitely didn't happen last time. Maybe Frisk's 'meet up' with Asgore will end happier this time…even though I haven't found Flowey yet. Heck, maybe that blasted flower won't even show up. I did threaten to kill him if I found him within thirty feet of Papyrus. Welp, one could only hope.

Without another thought, I teleported straight to the barrier room and found myself a sight that I never imagined that I will ever see…especially since I don't have eyes. Frisk, unharmed thank the Underground, was standing next to Papyrus who looked rather confused. And in front of them, a sulking, but also thankfully unharmed King Asgore was standing next to Undyne and next to her was Alphys, who was looking a bit flustered. And no wonder, because to my surprise, standing not too far away from them was Toriel, looking genuinely happy despite the fact that her ex-husband was nearby. I guess seeing her child again was just too much of a positive for her to be brought down with that negative. Poor Asgore.

"Hey guys…what's up?" I asked as I walked up to the group, keeping my eye-sockets peeled for any unwanted flower guests. In which case, there wasn't.

"That voice…!" lightly exclaimed Toriel before she walked forward till she was a few feet from me. "Hello, I think we may know each other?"

I couldn't help but smile wider as I inwardly thank Frisk for reloading. Because not only did they come back and Asgore didn't die as a result, but now I have another chance at a better first introduction with Toriel.

"Oh hey…I recognize your voice too," I responded, like I have never met her before. Which technically, in this timeline at least, I haven't.

"I am Toriel. So nice to meet you," she replied with a warm smile and friendly black eyes.

"The name's Sans," I told her, liking this introduction better already. "And, uh same."

"Oh! Wait, then…!" realized Toriel before she turned to Papyrus. "This must be your brother, Papyrus! Greetings, Papyrus! It is so nice to finally meet you! Your brother has told me so much about you."

You friskin' bet I have.

"WOWIE…I CAN'T BELIEVE ASGORE'S CLONE KNOWS WHO I AM!" exclaimed Papyrus while he blushed profusely, despite the fact that he doesn't have an ounce of blood in him. "THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!"

Wait Asgore's clone? Oh Papyrus, you are definitely the cinnamon roll of skeletons.

"Hey Papyrus…what does a skeleton tile his roof with?" asked Toriel pleasantly. Oh, this is gonna be good. And judging by the look on Frisk's face, they knew it too.

"HMMM…SNOW-PROOF ROOF TILES?" answered Papyrus, obviously unsure.

"No silly! A skeleton tiles his roof with… _shin_ -gles!" joked Toriel with a huge teasing smile on her face. Frisk, Toriel, and I were immediately taken over with laughter, both because of the joke and the appalled expression on my younger brother's face.

"Good one Mom!" Frisk managed to compliment between laughs.

"Thanks my child," Toriel thanked as she wiped a tear full of mirth away.

"I CHANGED MY MIND!" Papyrus cried, which only made me laugh even harder. "THIS IS THE WORST DAY OF MY LIFE! AND TO THINK THAT THE HUMAN IS BEING AFFECTED TOO…YOU'RE A POOR INFLUENCE SANS! BOTH OF YOU ARE!"

"Come on Asgore! It's gonna be ok!" Undyne tried to comfort a crying King Asgore while we tried to wrap up our laughter. "There are plenty of fish in the sea…"

"Heh heh, she said fish," chuckled Frisk quietly so that Undyne couldn't hear them. Oh gosh do I love this kid.

"Y-yeah, Asgore! Undyne's totally right about that fish thing!" added Alphys. "S-sometimes you've just got to, uh…s-stop going after the furry boss monsters and, uh…j-just get to know a really cute fish? It's a metaphor."

And now we are in one of Mettaton's corny romantic plays. Wait, Alphys had a crush on Asgore too? Actually looking back…that explains a good bit.

"Well, I think it's a good analogy," Undyne replied. Then suddenly, Mettaton came out of nowhere and stuck his leg out at the two monsters.

"Mettaton?!" exclaimed Frisk, their brown eyes wide with confusion yet delight. "Where did you come from?!"

Instead of answering a legitimate question, Mettaton just ignored it and kept his attention on Undyne and Alphys.

"OH MY GOSH! WILL YOU TWO JUST SMOOCH ALREADY!? THE AUDIENCE IS READY FOR SOME ROMANTIC ACTION!" And…Mettaton will be Mettaton.

"HEY, SHUT UP!" shouted Undyne, making Mettaton put his leg back down and back off from whence he came, not before muttering something about back-up. "Man, the nerve of that guy! Right Alphys!? Uh, Alphys?"

"No. He's right. LET'S DO IT," responded Alphys a bit wildly. Uh oh.

"Well? Uh? I guess? If you want to then?" Undyne said awkwardly. "Don't hold anything back!"

"W-wait!" cried Toriel as she jumped right in between Alphys and Undyne. "Not in front of the human!"

"Uhh, right! S-sorry! I got a little carried away there," Alphys sheepishly apologized. I should say so; Frisk is too young to see that kind of kiss yet! And honestly, I don't need to see that kind of kiss either. It's just too personal.

Toriel then chuckled while Papyrus walked up to stand next to Alphys. Taking his cue, I then took a shortcut and appeared between Toriel and Alphys. Thus, we were all in a row facing the human kid, who was grinning like there was no tomorrow. And to make this scene even better, Flowey wasn't anywhere in sight. Whether he had a change of heart or he didn't want to confront this many monsters along with the determined kid, I didn't care. We were all alive, happy, and together right now, and that's what really matters.

"My child, it seems you must stay here for a while," said Toriel gently with a warm smile. "But looking at all the great friends you have made…I think…I think you will be happy here."

For a few moments, Frisk didn't say anything. Instead, they just bit their lip and turned their focus to the ground. I crossed my fingers in my pockets and my soul was full of anticipation as I awaited their response. Would they say no, not because they didn't want to, but because they wanted all of us to get out of here as soon as possible? Or would Frisk say yes, they would stay and be a part of a big happy family with us? Then Frisk picked up their head, a smile on their face.

"Okay," answered Frisk. "I'll stay here with you all for a while!"

And immediately the anticipation in my soul was replaced with happiness. It's not that I didn't want to leave this place, far from it. I still wanted to see the sky with my brother and Frisk by my side. But after everything that has happened recently…it will honestly be nice to slow things down a bit until we can figure things out. Like how Frisk can break the barrier without killing anybody and how I can ease Frisk's fears about Chara overtaking them. And I guess that was Frisk's line of thought as well, since they did say 'a while.'

"WOOPEE!" cried Papyrus happily as he raised his boney arms in the air. "NOW I CAN MAKE YOU EVEN MORE AMAZING SPAGHETTI!"

"And don't forget play-fighting with me punk!" added Undyne excitedly.

"Y-yeah and we can watch anime t-together!" suggested Alphys with a wide smile.

"I could use a good _punny_ partner," I joked with a wink.

"SANS!" yelled an agitated Papyrus while Toriel laughed before suddenly gasping in realization and euphoria.

"Oh, I can teach you how to make butterscotch pie!"

"Oh, can you teach me too Tori?" asked Asgore hopefully before Toriel gave him the evil eye, all previous euphoria taking a backseat. Asgore wisely said nothing more and just hung his head and whimpered. Poor guy.

"Ooh, I can't wait!" exclaimed Frisk sincerely with a clap of their small hands. "I'm so happy that all of you are here!"

"H-hey, that reminds me," said Alphys, a curious look in her eyes. "Papyrus…you called everyone here, right?"

"He didn't call me dear," commented Toriel.

"Well, uh, besides her."

"THAT IS CORRECT ALPHYS!" confirmed Papyrus.

"Uh, anyway…if I got here before you…how did you know how to call everybody?" That…is actually a pretty good point…

"LET'S JUST SAY…A TINY FLOWER HELPED ME."

An icy chill just went up my spine. No puns intended.

"A tiny…flower?" asked Alphys, sounding perhaps just as apprehensive and scared as I was. But before anyone could say anything else, before I could do anything else, a giant vine came out of nowhere and before I knew it, I found myself in mid-air and with a bunch of tinier vines enclosed around me very tightly. I was trapped, with no way to get out besides using my magic.

"Goat Mom! Sans! Papyrus! Undyne! Alphys! Goat Dad!" cried Frisk in horror as they looked up at us. I turned my skull both ways and saw to my own horror, that the others were captured as well. I opened my mouth to say something, however, right then a burst of _painful_ magic that felt like electricity rippled through my skeletal frame.

"Ahh!" I heard someone yelp out in pain, as well as other similar cries of pain, including my own.

"Ah guys…I'll…don't worry, I'll get you out of there!" exclaimed Frisk as they took out their stick, looking concerned, terrified, and determined all at the same time. But before the kid could do anything else, before I could tell them to just leave us; _he_ popped up right in front of them.

"You _idiots_ ," Flowey sneered with that horrible, annoying smile of his. At the sight of him, I immediately tried to use my magic to slaughter him, but another burst of pain came, halting my efforts.

"Flowey," whispered Frisk in fear and in something else that I just couldn't place.

"While you guys were having your little pow-wow…I took the human souls!" proclaimed Flowey while his face contorted into an expression that just screamed pure evil. "And now, not only are _those_ under my power…But all your _friends' souls_ are going to be mine, too! Hee hee hee."

No…I don't want to be a part of Flowey! I can't!

"No!" cried Frisk in horror.

"Not if I have anything to say…ugh!" Undyne managed to say before another burst of that electricity-like magic hit us like one of my bones. Which brings the question…how am I still alive? Was it a special kind of magic where it can bring me pain but it won't kill me? Or does it not just take away that much HP? Probably the latter.

"FLOWEY! STOP DOING THIS VIOLENCE! I BELIEVE THAT YOU CAN STILL BE A GOOD MONSTER!" pleaded Papyrus. Oh Papyrus…is that why you took his advice to call us all here, despite me telling you that he was indeed dangerous? Because of your belief that everyone could be a good person if they just tried?

"Oh shut up Papyrus!" exclaimed Flowey harshly. Big protective brother mode turning on.

"Hey, nobody tells…ah!" I managed to protest before me and thus the others got subjected to yet another shot of that electricity-like magic.

"And you know what the best part is?" continued Flowey like he had never been interrupted. "It's all your fault."

Guilt instantly filled Frisk's brown eyes and if I wasn't angry before, I definitely was now. Frisk already blames themself enough, the kid doesn't need Flowey's false blame on top of it!

"It's all because you _made them_ love you. All the time you spent listening to them…encouraging them…caring about them…without that, they wouldn't have come here," that horrible, _true_ monster explained. "And now, with their souls and the humans' together…I will achieve my _real_ form. Hee hee…"

"Don't listen to him Frisk, he's wron…gah!" I cried as a rush of Flowey's painful, stupid magic deciding to come at the wrong time.

"Sans! Everyone! Stop…stop this Flowey! Please! They have done nothing to you! Why are you doing this to them?!" pleaded Frisk, desperation and confusion in their tone.

"Huh?" asked Flowey, with a bewildered expression before it was replaced with a sneering one. " _Why_ am I still doing this? Don't you get it? This is all just a _game._ If you leave the underground satisfied, you'll 'win' the game. If you 'win,' you won't want to 'play' with me anymore.

The heck?

"I'M CON…" Papyrus started to say before another ripple of pain shot through our bodies.

"And what would I do then?" Flowey asked Frisk with that fake smile of his before he switched to a menacing one. "But this game of ours will _never_ end. I'll hold victory in front of you, just within your reach…and then tear it away before you can grasp it. Over, and over, and over…hee hee hee."

I have heard enough with my nonexistent ears at this point. It was time to get out _now_. Having just been through yet another charge of agony, I reached for my magic only to realize…that I couldn't. I tried again, but I just couldn't get a grasp on the only thing that can free me and the others so that we could protect Frisk. Was I too low on energy and HP to use my blue magic? Did I wait too long to use it? Have…have I failed Frisk yet again? Am I…going to have to see the kid die again? Oh why did I let my guard down?!

"Listen," Flowey continued. "If you _do_ defeat me, I'll give you your 'happy ending.' I'll bring your friends back. I'll destroy the barrier. Everyone will finally be satisfied. But that _won't_ happen. You…! I'll keep you here no matter what!"

Then Flowey disappeared into the ground before popping up a few feet beside Frisk. Before the kid could react, a bunch of little white pellets surrounded them. Anxiety and despair instantly gripped my soul in their icy grip, and out of pure desperation, I tried to use my magic again. But to no avail.

"Even if it means killing you 1,000,000 times!"

"No!" I cried in horror. But despite my cry, Flowey hit Frisk with that barrage of white pellets, causing my kid to cry out in pain.

"My child!" Toriel exclaimed in terror. Then another circle of those awful pellets appeared before quickly colliding with the child, causing another cry of pain.

"Punk!"

"HUMAN!"

"F-Frisk!"

"Child!" cried King Asgore at the same time as Undyne, Papyrus, and Alphys. But despite their cries as well, Flowey had summoned yet _another_ of those blasted white bullets to appear around Frisk before having them hit the kid.

"Gah!" Frisk almost screamed, as blood began to seep through their beloved sweater and shorts. As a result, my metaphorical heart dropped all the way to my boney feet. I felt another magical electrical burst but I didn't care. Because Flowey summoned one more circle of white magic bullets to encircle Frisk, and I knew that this was going to be the last one. Frisk only had 1 HP left. I was going to see my kid die for a third time. For real this time. And I could do _nothing_ to stop it. And…it was breaking my soul.

Flowey then laughed manically as the white bullets of death this time inched closer and closer to Frisk, promising death with just one touch. But then, just before the bullets reached the scared child, just before I could give myself to despair and regret, a ring of fire appeared around Frisk. And it blasted the pellets away.

"What?" asked Flowey in confusion.

"Do not be afraid my child…" Toriel began, gasping for breath but with a kind smile on her face. "No matter what happens…We will always be there to protect you!"

"Goat mom…" whispered Frisk, some of the fear disappearing from their face as they looked up at her. Toriel…

With a grunt, Flowey then wasted no more time to send another pellet attack at Frisk, this time just from their sides. But again, just before the pellets could hit them, a large bone appeared on their right and a spear appeared on their left. Together, they protected Frisk completely and stopped the pellets in their tracks.

"THAT'S RIGHT HUMAN! YOU CAN WIN!" exclaimed Papyrus with a voice full of confidence. "JUST DO WHAT I, WOULD DO…BELIEVE IN YOU!"

Bro…

"Hey! Human! If you got past _me_ , you can do _anything_! So don't worry! We're with you all the way!" proclaimed Undyne with no doubt in her voice and a wide toothy smile. Undyne…you're…you're right! All of you are right! I may not be able to use my magic, but I am still with Frisk! And they are the most determined kid I know; they just need a little pick-me-up! And that, I _can_ do.

"Huh? You haven't beaten this guy yet?" I questioned Frisk with a warm smile. "Come on, this weirdo's got nothin' on you. In fact, _no_ weirdo has anything on you. You got that?"

"Ye…Yes Sans! Papyrus! Undyne!" answered Frisk with a hopeful smile, which was proof that they got the subtle message that Chara had nothing on them either. "I got it!"

With a _tch_ sound, Flowey then sent an attack similar to the last time with a large maniacal smile on his face. But once again, before the bullets could hit the human, Frisk was protected. This time, a barrier of fire appeared on their right and a barrier of electricity appeared on their left. And together, they disintegrated the pellets like it was nothing.

"Technically, it's impossible for you to beat him…" started Alphys with a confident smile. "B-but…somehow, I know you can do it!"

"And I will Alphys!" declared Frisk with a pump of their fist. Good job Alphys.

"Human, for the future of humans and monsters…! You have to stay determined…!" proclaimed Asgore with a sincere smile. I couldn't have said it better myself. Then suddenly, Mettaton came back.

"I'M BACK DARLINGS! OOO, IS THIS THE CLIMAX! WELL, GOOD THING I BROUGHT A LIVE AUDIENCE!" exclaimed the robot dramatically. And before I could wonder what he meant by that, even _more_ monsters ran into the room. Oh that's what he meant by back-up.

And what a selection of monsters there were. I saw Monster Kid, Shyren, several of the Royal guard, Miss. Muffet, and many more and boy, was it _glorious_. Because as soon as they entered the room, they immediately surrounded us and gave Frisk many more words of encouragement and support. Flowey even began to look afraid! At this point, Frisk may not even have to fight Flowey!

"Urrrgh…NO!" protested Flowey, with what was definitely a scared expression on their face. "Unbelievable! This can't be happening…!"

"But it is bucko! You just have to deal with it!" confirmed Frisk as they pointed a finger at Flowey. This earned a happy reaction from the audience, especially from Mettaton who looked like he was on the moon. And I will definitely admit it got a wider smile out of me too.

"You…YOU…!" yelled Flowey defiantly before right out of nowhere, his maniacal smile came back on his face. "I can't believe you're all so _stupid_."

And I might have celebrated too soon. And right as I acknowledged that, everything began to tremble, the bursts of electricity-like magical pain came back, and there was a white light that was enveloping everything.

"ALL OF YOUR SOULS ARE MINE!" No…Frisk won't let that happen.

And then the white light truly enveloped everything and I immediately knew no more.

 **Welp...the climax is finally here. Frisk's final battle is right up ahead and we will get to see what Sans feels and experience as a Lost Soul...this might be fun. In any case, how were the characters? Were you able to connect with them? Did you invested in the chapter? Was Mettaton's part in this funny or just plain weird? Please tell me your feelings on this chapter in a review (they do motivate me, make me joyful inside, and guilt trip me when I haven't updated) I hope you have a great day/night!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Oh yeah...I updated in less than months! I was actually planning to update a few weeks ago but still...a massive improvement from last time! Yay me!**

 **Also...there's only one more chapter after this. Just a heads up.**

 **Guest: Thank you, it's because of people like you that I have the dedication to finish this long story myself:) That and I also don't want to leave this baby hanging...**

 **I am not Toby Fox posing as ilovecartoonsgirl. So obviously, I don't own Undertale.**

 **The End**

I am floating…floating where? It's too dark to see anything…and I don't feel anything either. Am I by myself? No…there is someone grunting somewhere nearby…or was it far away? I can't tell…but why does that voice sound familiar? And…now that I think about it…who…who am I? Then without warning, something that felt like a memory popped up in my mind.

 _"Oh, so you are Sans? Fantastic! Come over here my boy, for I need your help!" exclaimed a very tall skeleton in a long white lab coat._

 _"Sure thing Dr. Gaster!" responded a young small skeleton as he hurried to the other skeleton's side. "What are we gonna be doing?"_

That small skeleton…that's me…that's right…my name is Sans! And that other skeleton…that's Gaster, the Royal Scientist! This was my first day of work as his assistant! Before I could recall anymore, a second memory played through my skull.

 _"Alright Sans…plug my baby in!" ordered Dr. Gaster excitedly as he pointed at me while he stood in front of a large rectangular-like object._

 _"Aye aye Doc!" I cried with a salute as I grabbed the cord and rushed to the nearest outlet. With a big and truly happy smile, I wasted no time in plugging it in. But suddenly, a spark of electricity spurted from the outlet and traveled up the cord till it came in contact with my hand. As a result, electricity spread throughout my skeletal body like wildfire making me scream bloody murder._

 _But somehow, despite the great pain, I still noticed that the machine was jolting and jumping around like a bunny from all the electricity. And Gaster was desperately trying to avoid it, looking quite worried._

 _"Oh my…Sans hold…" Dr. Gaster managed to say right before the machine knocked right into him. I could only watch as Dr. Gaster flew right over the edge, letting out a terrified scream as he did so. Until suddenly, the scream stopped._

 _"DR. GASTER!"_

"Dr. Gaster," I said softly, the horror and trauma from that experience hitting me all over again. I remember now…we were testing Dr. Gaster's time machine…but…instead of helping my fellow monsters…it only killed the scientist that I respected and admired so much…

 _"Whoa, what in the world happened to you?!" hooted a young spider monster, her black eyes wide in great concern and worry. But instead of answering, I just stumbled into her arms, panting heavily as I did so._

 _"Dr.…" I managed to spurt out between my gasps for air as my legs shake uncontrollably, obviously too weak to stay standing for much longer._

 _"Now my deary, just breathe while I'll…"_

 _"Dr. Gaster fell into the Core!" I all but screamed, somehow finding the voice in order to do that. But it did the trick, since the spider monster quickly gasped in horror._

 _"Oh my…oh deary…I'm sorry but…I don't think there's anything we can do for your friend…" the female try to reason with me but I just shook my head._

 _"But he's Dr. W. D. Gaster! We have to do something!" I cried, not willing to give up on the scientist that I respected quite yet._

 _"Ah…I'm sorry…but who's Dr. W. D. Gaster?" she asked, sounding both concerned and confused. I just looked at her like she was crazy._

 _"You know…the Royal Scientist!" But instead of clearing the confusion up, I could only see that I made it worse._

 _"My deary…I think you hit your skull or something because we don't have a Royal Scientist."_

That's right…the Core and the time machine didn't just kill Dr. Gaster…it _erased_ him from existence. And I…no matter how many different monsters I talked to…no matter how hard I tried to get them to remember him…it was no use. I, just a measly assistant who only actually knew him for about half-a-day, was the only one who remembered him and how great he was.

 _"SANS…ARE YOU OKAY?" asked a skeleton who looked to be about twelve-years-old. I, still wearing a white lab coat that was covered in scorch marks, looked at the kid for a second before pulling him into a hug._

 _"I'm fine Papyrus…just had a day that was bad to the bone," I said as I hugged the kid skeleton like he was my lifeline._

 _"SANS!"_

That's…that's my brother…my dear baby brother. I quit being a scientist because of him, and even though I still don't remember everything, I know that I don't regret that decision.

 _I was whistling as I walked through the snow-covered woods, hands in my pockets and a cheerful smile on my face. A giant of rustles and what sounded suspiciously like a painful grunt rang through the air. I immediately stopped in my tracks and when another grunt followed, I hurried towards the sound. After a minute or so, I found who made the noise. It was Papyrus._

 _Once again, I instantly stopped in my tracks, though this time it was because of horror and not because I was being alert. Thorny vines were all over my brother's body, making him not able to move from his position in the middle of the air._

 _"Just so you know…I never considered you to be my friend," said a flower with yellow petals in front of Papyrus just as a new vine wrapped about Papyrus' neck. And right after pain and betrayal showed up on my brother's face, the vine around my brother's neck squeezed. So tightly that with a loud crack, Papyrus' head fell right off._

"PAPYRUS!" I screamed as I instinctively put my hands on my skull, horror, disbelief, and anguish filling my very being. No…Papyrus…he couldn't have…he isn't…he can't be! No! He can't be dead! Not my baby brother! Please, oh please no! I…I can't…why…why did that flower kill my brother!

 _"Why…why did you kill my brother Flowey? What did Papyrus did to deserve death?" I growled at the flower, who was now looking very badly injured and near death himself. The flower then laughed as I grasped the red scarf around my neck._

 _"Because one…I was curious…and two…it's a kill-or-be-killed world Sans. So why should I spare a stupid and annoying skeleton?" answered Flowey with a despicable grin. I then let out a yell full of rage and anguish as I summoned a bone and ran it right through Flowey's monstrous face._

So…I killed the blasted flower…whose name was Flowey. I might have let my brother die right in front of me, but at least I avenged him. But…Papyrus is still dead.

"Papyrus…I'm so sorry," I apologized through the tears that were now flowing down my face like a waterfall.

 _"What the?!" I cried in great shock and confusion as I looked at all the snow-covered trees around me. "How…how did I get from Asgore's flower garden all the way to Snowdin?"_

 _"HI BROTHER!" I gasped and slowly turned around to see Papyrus walking towards me with a grin on his face._

 _"HAVE YOU SEEN ANY HUMANS…SANS…ARE YOU OKAY? YOU LOOK..."_

 _"PAPYRUS!" I cried as I ran towards him and jumped into his arms, which luckily Papyrus opened in time to catch me. "You're…you're alive!"_

"He's…he's alive…how?" I asked myself out loud as I became overwhelmed with relief, joy, and utter confusion. Maybe it was just a nightmare…a nightmare that just happened to feel too much like reality. Yeah…

" _August 15th?" I said in a bewildered voice as I looked at the calendar, which had all the days up till August 14th marked off with an x. "But…that's the day Papyrus…and about two weeks passed since then…was it all just a bad dream? No, it felt too real…when I killed Flowey…did we somehow go back in time?"_

Is…is that true? Did Dr. Gaster's dream of going back in time actually come true? Even though the time machine wasn't used at all?

 _I was walking through the outskirts in Snowdin when I heard a familiar pained cry. I stopped in my tracks and gasped in fear._

 _"Pa…Papyrus!" I cried as I quickly ran forward. "No no no no, not again!"_

 _Then, just as I arrived at a sentry post that was poorly made, I stopped in my tracks once again. Flowey was there and in between us, was Papyrus. With a bunch of thorny vines sticking out of his back._

 _"PAP…" I began to cry before suddenly, Papyrus had turned into a small pile of gray dust._

 _"Ah…that look on your face…makes me feel better after what happened in the last timeline," admitted Flowey deviously. "Though I would be lying if I said that killing your brother again didn't help too."_

 _Before he could say or do anything else, I, with tears falling down the face of my skull, summoned a Gaster Blaster which immediately blasted the murderer off the face of the earth. Right after that and without warning, darkness enveloped everything and before I knew it, I was back where I was when I reunited with Papyrus after he died the first time._

 _"Flowey…Flowey knew…" I muttered out loud, my tears steadily slowing down. "He's…the one who…reset last time…and he's the one who reset this time…he has to be."_

I remember now, I was right. Flowey had the power to go back to the beginning of where it all began, or a reset. I also remembered that the flower also could go back a point in time before then, or as I liked to call it, a reload. And even though I remembered all of this, whoever or whatever was showing me my past memories…didn't stop.

The memories just kept on coming and coming and they were all pretty bad, though some were definitely worse than others. Flowey kept on killing my brother, though sometimes he switched it up and killed Undyne or Asgore, if not both. There was one time Flowey managed to almost murder the entire Underground before I was able to get to him.

At first during this stream of horrible memories, right after I saw Flowey cut Papyrus in half, I screamed. I screamed and yelled for Flowey to just _stop_ , for me to get with the program and actually _save_ my brother for once, and for the memories to just end and stop torturing me. I just couldn't take it anymore.

But the memories didn't end. My brother and others kept on dying. And Flowey kept on killing and tying to retrieve the souls Asgore hid away, though one time he did finally succeed. I still managed to kill him though.

It after that timeline actually that Flowey…did nothing. For a while anyway. Then not very long after Asgore's remains were found in his beloved flower garden, time was reset again. However, this time we didn't go all the way back to August 15th. So I guess it was technically a reload. Whatever.

It was at this point in the terrible stream of memories, that I just about stopped caring. After all, the same days kept on repeating, everyone kept on dying, and everyone kept on coming back to life. Sure, the exact details of those days and deaths were varied but the end results were always the same. So honestly…so should it even matter to me?

Then not one, but _two_ timelines went by without much incident. And each one started at a later date. By the third timeline, the citizens of Snowden were actually preparing to celebrate Christmas. And not only that…I actually forgot. The version of me in the memories had actually _forgotten_ all about the times my brother died, as well as all the piles of dust that Flowey left in his wake. I _even_ forgot about Flowey!

I still knew all about the reset and reload buttons because I still recalled what happened in the last two timelines but other than that…nada. Zip. Nothing. And somehow…seeing myself forget all about those traumatizing times…made my present self…feel a bit more hopeful. Or maybe it was because that time was slowly but steadily progressing with no one getting killed. It was probably the latter but still. I couldn't help but sort of feel that maybe things weren't so bad after all. That maybe…life did have a point again.

But then… _the kid_ happened.

" _Pa…Papyrus…Papyrus! PAPYRUS! PAAPYRUUS!"_

" _I love you bro. And I'm…g-going…to m-miss…y-y-you…"_

" _Undyne…if you really believe that… Then please…for all of our sakes…for Papyrus…please kill the person who looks like a human."_

" _W-Why Undyne? Y-You swore…you swore that you weren't g-going to die…"_

" _I'm sorry Miss. Muffet…I really am."_

" _DARN IT! DARN IT METTATON! HOW WAS THAT PROTECTING ANYONE METTATON?! HUH?! HOW WAS THAT STOPPING THE MONSTER?! HOW WAS THAT DEFENDING YOURSELF?! HOW WAS THAT STAYING ALIVE?!"_

" _Welp. Sorry old lady. This is why I never make promises."_

A human kid had the power of the reset button…and loved to kill too. If I was hopeless before, I really was now. The deaths and the days really were never going to end. So what's the point in trying?

I became so hopeless and depressed that it took me three full minutes after I was shown a memory of me killing the kid with a wave of bones that another memory had yet to show up. A tiny bit curious, I waited another two minutes but the memory never came. The memories…had finally stopped coming. It was honestly about time.

But before I could truly rest…wherever I was, I got pulled. Even though there was no one in front of me, I was being pulled forwards in kind of a rapid rate. But maybe someone was there. Whatever, I don't care anymore.

And then, as suddenly as it began, the pulling stopped. Right in front of a small figure that I couldn't see clearly because of all the white specks covering them. Or maybe there is something wrong with my vision because there was a tall figure beside me now, and they were also covered in little white specks. Whatever.

"Hey Papyrus," greeted the figure in front of me. Wait, Papyrus? Is…is he the one beside me? Has he been in this strange darkness this whole time? And I…I didn't think about where he could be this whole time…I really am a useless brother…

"What is a skeleton's favorite instrument?" continued the small figure.

"WHAT?" I heard my brother's voice ask.

"A trom _bone_." Heh…heh heh…

"UGH…" groaned Papyrus as he sent a flurry of bones at the small figure, all of which the person avoided with ease. "WHATEVER, I DON'T HAVE TIME TO DWELL ON YOUR HORRIBLE PUN…FOR I MUST CAPTURE A HUMAN!"

"Hey Sans!" cried the person, whose voice now was sounding kind of familiar to me. This person knows who I am?

"Wanna take a break with me?" the figure continued. A break…that sounds so amazingly good right now. I couldn't help but nod as I absentmindedly sent a bone or two their way, of which they easily avoided. And while I did so…I had the feeling that that I once took a break or two with this person before. But I don't know them…do I?

"Um Papyrus…if it isn't any trouble…will you be willing to cook some spaghetti for me? It's honestly the best pasta I've ever tasted," requested the person earnestly.

"…RE-REALLY?" Papyrus asked while he sent a line of bones towards the person, which they avoided with an eager nod. "OH, OF COURSE YOU DO! MY PASTA IS THE BEST AFTER ALL! IT'S NO WONDER WHY YOU WANT TO HAVE SOME!"

This person actually wants some more of Papyrus' spaghetti? Welp…they can't be too bad…especially since I can tell that even with all the white specks that Papyrus is barely keeping himself from jumping up and down.

"Sans?" asked the figure, who was now looking kind of familiar as well. "I'm definitely going to think about what I have done."

What I have done…okay…where do I know this person from? Because not only have they eaten Papyrus' spaghetti and taken a break with me…it also sounds like they have been…judged…by…me…

And then like a flash of light, I remembered _everything_ , not just the bad. I remembered all the badly-tasting but heartfelt-made meals I shared with my brother, Grillby's, and the puns I told to get him riled up. I remembered the puns I shared with the old lady behind the door and the occasional cup of tea with King Asgore. I remembered the chats with Undyne and the rare science joke with Alphys. And…I remembered…

"Frisk!" I cried, the white specks disappearing to reveal little Frisk staring at us, smiling and looking very relieved and happy.

"NO! WAIT! YOU'RE MY FRIEND! I COULD NEVER CAPTURE YOU!" declared Papyrus, obviously remembering who Frisk was too.

"Sans! Papyrus! You're okay!" Frisk exclaimed as they ran towards us, their arms opened wide. Before I knew it, I was taking part in a three-way hug. And for the first time since I've woken up here, I am honestly…happy. Sure, we were still in this dark place and I still remembered all the times Papyrus and the others were…killed by Flowey, as well as Chara. But I have also remembered all the good times I've spent with my brother and friends, and with my kid. And it helps that I believe in Frisk too.

"SO…WHERE ARE WE HUMAN? I STILL DON'T EXACTLY REMEMBER…" my brother started to ask before he gasped, obviously having remembered. It was right about then that I finally realized where we were as well.

"Kid…are we…in Flowey? Or something like that?" I asked as the three of us parted out of the hug. Frisk as a result pulled on a face that I honestly couldn't decipher for the life of me.

"Yeah…something like that," Frisk answered.

"I'M…I'M SORRY…IF I HAD LISTENED TO YOU SANS…WE WOULDN'T BE…" Papyrus began to apologize before I stopped him by placing a boney hand on his boney arm.

"It's okay bro…I know that you believe the best in everybody. And I wouldn't have you any other way," I said honestly.

"Yeah!" supported Frisk. "And everybody deserves mercy too!"

And…I wouldn't have Frisk any other way too.

"Well, I gotta go and save the others," said Frisk as they started to walk away. "So um…just stay here for now okay?"

"Frisk wait," I quickly said as I grabbed their arm. Frisk stopped in their tracks and turned their head to look at me, their brown eyes full of determination and hope.

"Just…be careful okay?" I requested as I let go their arm, butterflies fluttering around in my non-existing stomach. Because even though I do believe in the kid…I couldn't help but worry for them. They were going up against Flowey after all.

"Don't worry," Frisk agreed with a nod. "Because after all...no weirdo has anything on me right?"

I couldn't help but smile widely at that. I guess I found the right words to motivate and cheer up Frisk after all.

"Right," I agreed with a nod of my own. "So what are you waiting for? Go and save the others already so we can finally take a well-deserved break at Grillby's."

"OH PLEASE, NOT THAT GREASE-INFESTED PLACE! LET'S TAKE A BREAK IN MY KITCHEN, WITH MY SPAGHETTI COOKING ON THE STOVE!" suggested Papyrus.

"You actually wanna take a break Papyrus?" I asked him, and if I had an eyebrow, I surely would have raised it. My brother just shrugged his shoulders.

"IT'S BEEN AN EXTREMELY BUSY DAY."  
You got that right.

"Well…see ya later!" Frisk then exclaimed before they ran off.

"BYE HUMAN! GOOD LUCK!" Papyrus cried with a wave of his hand.

"Good luck kid," I added with a small smile as the kid faded in the distance. A few minutes or so then passed in silence.

"SO…WHAT NOW BROTHER?" asked Papyrus. I shrugged my shoulders.

"We…" Right then and there, a bright white light once again enveloped everything and again as a result, I lost consciousness.

 **UT**

"Ugh…my skull…what happened?" I asked myself with a groan as I opened my eye-sockets and looked around a bit. I was in the room right before the barrier room but try as I might…I couldn't remember why I was there.

Then suddenly like a spark of electricity, I remembered. Frisk was going to face Asgore again but after me, Papyrus, Undyne, Alphys, and even Toriel intervened, it was decided that Frisk should stay here for the time being. And then…Flowey came and…

"Frisk! Pap…!" I started to cry out before I was interrupted.

"WE'RE RIGHT HERE SANS." Even though it was my brother's voice and I was terribly glad to hear it…I couldn't let out a sigh of relief. Because Papyrus sounded like he was on the edge of tears. So with my soul full of apprehension and dread, I turned around.

And what I saw…made my metaphorical heart drop. All the way down to my boney toes.

"BUT THE HUMAN…" Papyrus as he tearfully leaned over Frisk's motionless body in Toriel's arms. "ISN'T WAKING UP!"

 **So I ended on another cliffie...yeah, I know I'm evil. But on another note, how was this chapter? Did it flow well? Did it seem rushed at all? How were the characters? Please tell me what you think of this chapter in a review and I will be sure to update sooner rather than later! So with that, have a great day/night!**

 **P.S. Just in case I don't end up putting this in the next chapter (like I couldn't make it fit or something) here's a tidbit: The ability to remember Gaster is not the only thing Sans gained from that tragic time machine accident in the Core. It also gave him the ability to remember the more recent timelines. He just can't remember all of them.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Ruby: Why thank you!**

 **For the last time, I don't own Undertale.**

 **Happiness**

"No…NO!" I cried as I picked myself up and ran towards Frisk, slightly noticing that everyone else was conscious and were also surrounding the human child with great distress. Even though the distance between us was short, it felt like it took forever for me to get to Frisk. But when I finally did, I fell to my knees and shook Frisk's arm a bit desperately. Horror wrapped its icy tendrils around my soul when I saw all the blood splattered across Frisk's purple-and-blue sweater.

Just…what in frisking world happened?

"Frisk!" I cried, not really bothering to hide my panic. The kid didn't answer. I shook their arm again. "C'mon bucko…wake up! Frisk!"

There was no beautiful answer. There were no wonderful movements at all from the too-young child.

Am I…am I really…going to see…my kid die again? If…if Frisk hasn't…died already?

"What happened?" I asked quietly as I looked up to the others' faces, which ranged from sad to outright tearful. Because try as I might…I just couldn't remember what had happened.

"I…we don't remember," answered Undyne as she wiped a tear away from her eye.

"I…I m-mean…w-we remembered…" Alphys added, her voice cracking as her eyes became more watery by the second. "Why w-we were all are h-here and t-that Flowey then came and a-attacked us and that…he t-tried t-to…"

"Kill Frisk," I finished for her grimly as I unconsciously gripped Frisk's arm tighter. "Then we…you all managed to protect them before Mettaton and his audience arrived to offer their support. Then there was a bright light and…"

"You woke up here?" asked Asgore solemnly. When I nodded, Asgore sighed. "That's all we remember too."

"Urgh if I ever see that little evil punk again, I will give him a thousand spears to the face!" threatened Undyne with a small growl as she clenched both fists. With a gasp of realization, I looked around only to see that the flower was nowhere in sight. Before I could wonder if Flowey was gone forever or was just hiding, I noticed something else. Something else that made me go silent and still in complete and utter shock.

"FLOWEY WASN'T HERE WHEN WE WOKE UP SANS," said Papyrus, sniffling as he did so.

"The barrier," I whispered unable to tear my eye-sockets away from the sight to face my beloved brother. Because the barrier…the barrier was _gone._ In its place was a passageway that led…that must lead…to the _outside_. We…we can get out…we're...we're…

"Oh my," gasped Toriel as she and the others turned their attention to where the barrier used to be. "We're…we're _free._ "

The kid…the kid actually did it…

"WE'RE FREE…WE'RE FREE SANS! WE CAN FINALLY SEE THE STARS TOGETHER!" exclaimed Papyrus excitedly.

They…they freed us…we can see the outside world now…Papyrus and I can actually make our dream come true…

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh" chanted Alphys, clearly overwhelmed with emotion as she looked the opening with her hands over her mouth.

But…

"C'MON HUMAN, YOU NEED TO WAKE UP SO WE CAN ALL SEE THE OUTSIDE WORLD TOGETHER!" cried Papyrus as they gently shook Frisk's shoulder, who didn't respond.

But at what price?

"Yeah, c'mon Punk! Wake up already!" ordered Undyne, her voice wavering with emotion. Frisk didn't wake up. As a result, a part of my soul started to die.

"Please wake up my child," pleaded Toriel as a few tears fell down from her eyes. Frisk didn't move a muscle. Any hope that I had that Frisk would wake up, that we would all go outside together, was dimming fast.

"Fr…Frisk!" cried Alphys, tears now streaming down her face.

"Don't give up Frisk…stay determined!" motivated Asgore with an expression of broken despair, but to no avail. Frisk didn't wake up.

"HUMAN!" Papyrus all but screamed as his tears flowed down his skull like tin waterfalls. There was no twitch, no tell that would alert me that my kid was actually alive. And as a result, that part of my soul almost died completely.

"This…This is all just a bad dream…!" I all but exclaimed as I unconsciously had my hand move down to grasp Frisk's hand. This…This has to be right?! This can't be real, this has to be another nightmare! I just have to wake up!

So I then closed my eye-sockets and tried to wake up, to gain consciousness again. But when I opened them, instead of seeing Frisk's smiling face besides my brothers, I was faced with the image of my brother crying and Frisk's too still form. I had no choice but to accept that this was reality and that thinking otherwise would be pure denial.

When I did do though, anguish and grief began to tear my whole being asunder. The pain was so great and suffocating that it took effort to take a single breath.

"Frisk…" I said in one final, desperate try to keep my hope of a real happy ending alive. "Please…wake up."

My kid didn't.

Still holding Frisk's hand, I was dimly aware of my skull becoming wet as I slowly fell into despair. Why…why Frisk why? I…I thought…you were going to live with us…I thought we were all going to be happy together. I…what happened in that fight with Flowey that made you change your mind?! What…what happened?! Why…why do you have…had to be so frisking determined?! Sure I wanted to be free and see the outside world…but not at the price of your life!

I…just wanted all of us to be together. I just wanted to see my brother smile, to share puns with Toriel, to spend time with Undyne and Alphys, and to maybe drink some tea with Asgore. And…to make you laugh. I didn't care where it happened…I just wanted it to happen.

Frisk…why did you have to go?

Then, right at that moment, my boney hand felt a twitch. A twitch that quickly became small fingers curling themselves around my hand.

With a small gasp, I quickly pulled myself out of my despair and looked at my hand. The fingers curled around my hand belonged to Frisk alright. With hope flaring in my soul, I looked up to Frisk's face, which was still emotionless. But then Frisk's eyes twitch. Right before they opened.

"Morning" said Frisk softly with a smile. I couldn't help but let out a chuckle as I wiped away my tears.

"Mornin' bucko. Did ya have a good nap?"

 **UT**

I whistled with my boney hands in the pockets of my blue hoodie as I leaned against the archway in the now empty Ruins. It has been a good number of weeks now since Frisk broke the barrier and I gotta say…things have been going well. Surprisingly. I mean, when we got out just in time to see the sunset…I was almost lost for words and honestly, pretty content. Frisk was okay, Papyrus was okay, everyone else was okay, _and_ we werefree to venture into the outside world at last. It really looked like we finally had our happy ending.

But then the next day, after we all camped on the mountainside the night before, fears of reality had started to settle in. How were the humans going to react? Will they scream and attack us on sight? Will they give us a chance? Will they banish us back to the Underground again? Or will the humans just kill us all to avenge the children that had fallen to the Underground?

When a select group of us went down to the nearest town with Frisk as our ambassador, it turned out that…I was worrying for pretty much nothing. Sure, some people screamed and a lot were definitely wary but a good bit of them were… _excited_. When we were walking to the town hall, there were people who were taking pictures of us and some of them walked along with us, asking all kinds of question along the way.

Then when we got to the town hall and met with the mayor….welp, a whole lot of political stuff happened but in sort…we are going to stay free. We were given land and we were even gonna get human help to build our new town, which King Asgore named Ebbottown. This has helped improve our relationships with the humans, so that even most of the wary or distrustful ones seem to trust us now.

Speaking of relationships improving, when the subject of the fallen children came up, the truth of their deaths was also revealed. King Asgore never actually killed a single one of them. The six who fell after Chara had all died on the way by either a natural accident like dehydration or by a scared monster in self-defense. Asgore, the big-hearted doofus, just took on the burden of their burdens just because he was King and felt responsible for his proclamation made out of anger.

Because of this, and the fact that their deaths happened a long time ago, King Asgore and the monster race as a whole were pardoned and forgiven. And they weren't the only one doing the forgiving. A bit after the truth came out, Toriel went to Asgore and forgave him and even apologized for leaving him the way she did. Something about how she should have tried harder to make him see reason when Asriel died. They're living together now.

As for the rest of us, Mettaton is quickly becoming a popular star in the humans' eyes and has even directed and performed in a small version of _Romeo and Juliet_ that was both a publicity stunt and a way to raise money for the building of Ebbottown. It was a huge success and I believe Mettaton has even received offers for contracts from several human movie companies. Whether he has accepted any of them or not I don't know, but I do know that he is currently living with his cousin, who turns out to be Napstablook. I have never seen the ghost happier and though it is hard to tell with Mettaton's…dramatic personality, I think the same goes for him.

Undyne, much like the time when Asgore had died and Toriel had taken over the throne, had disbanded the Royal Guard. She figured that since we were finally outside, we didn't need them anymore. Undyne now spends her time watching a lot of anime with Alphys and being a gym teacher that bench-presses kids at the school that Toriel just opened. She became so popular that human kids will come over from Marnmouth just so that she could bench-press them and tell them stories about her adventurous and passionate life.

Alphys is pretty happy as well though…she may or may not have gone through a bit of a rough spot at the beginning. While Frisk was saying goodbye to the Underground, Alphys told the rest of us about what had happened to Mrs. Snowdrake and the rest of the monsters that had fallen at the same time she did. Apparently Asgore asked her to find a quicker way to break down the barrier, and as a result, Alphys had the idea to prolong the time monster souls stay around after death.

To do this, she asked for all the fallen monsters and when she got them, she injected determination into their bodies, hoping that this would in the soul not disappearing right away when they die. However, they didn't die. In fact, they woke up and were walking around like they weren't at death's door. But then, just when Alphys was going to send them back home, they started…melting. And to make matters worse, they started melting into _each other._ Monsters bodies were just not equipped to handle determination like humans.

As a result, Alphys panicked and didn't tell anyone the truth about what had happened. Until now. I kept silent as she told her story, deciding to judge only once she was finished. And when Alphys did, also saying that she was going to return the poor monsters back to their families, I decided to pat her on the head and forgive her. It was an accident and now she is making things right again.

The others' reactions were pretty much as I expected them to be. Undyne and Papyrus were sympathetic and gave her hugs, and King Asgore, while sad that Alphys didn't tell him, understood where she came from. Toriel's reaction was a bit different from what I expected though. She also gave the dinosaur monster a hug but after she did that, Toriel fired her. It was a bit surprising, but it really was just as well. We don't need a Royal Scientist anymore either.

And I think it cleared up a lot of stress off her plate, as Alphys seems very happy watching anime, helping the human scientists, and spending time with Undyne and the rest of us.

Papyrus is now the 'Captain of the Royal Guard,' or as Undyne puts it, the guy who patrols Ebbottown to make sure everything and everyone is reasonably fine. Papyrus is quite happy with his new position and takes it very seriously, taking several jogs through town a day and asking just about everyone he sees how they're doing. Because of this, he is beloved and admired by both humans and monsters, including his new number one fan, Monster Kid. He also has a red car very similar to his bed at our new house, which he loves very much. Even though it easily gets beaten whenever I am on my new blue bicycle that I may or may not power with my magic.

As for Frisk…I have never seen my little kid this genuinely happy. They finally received the parents they always deserved when Asgore and Toriel officially adopted them. Frisk now has their own room that is full with books and toys and they often eat butterscotch-cinnamon pie and help Asgore in his flower garden. They go to Toriel's school where they are doing well in both academics and athletics. Frisk is also very popular, especially by the monsters. My kid is the reason why the barrier is broken after all.

Speaking of which, a few days after the barrier was broken, Frisk admitted who Flowey really is. Flowey is actually _Asriel_ without a soul. Toriel and Asgore's kid, _Asriel_. Yeah, my initial reaction to that piece of information wasn't exactly calm let's just leave it at that. Apparently, Alphys was curious about what would happen if she injected determination into an object without a soul. And she picked a flower in Asgore's flower garden, where Asriel's dust was spread. Dagnabbit Alphys.

Anyway, when Flowey…or Asriel, absorbed us, he managed to regain his original goat monster form before, according to Frisk, turning into 'the God of Hyperdeath.' Then after Frisk saved us, which I still don't remember, my kid managed to talk sense back into Asriel. The monster prince then used all the souls he absorbed to break down the barrier.

And that's the real story behind the breaking of the barrier, a story that only Frisk and I know. Because unfortunately…Asriel was doomed to turn back into a flower once he gave all the souls back. And Frisk promised him that they wouldn't tell Asgore and Toriel for obvious reasons. So why should we tell anyone else?

In any case, poor Asriel turned back into Flowey and stayed here in the Ruins while the rest of us enjoyed our new life on the surface. It was a situation I was perfectly fine with to be honest. I honestly felt sorry for Asriel and was grateful that he temporarily gained enough sense to break the barrier but… _Flowey_. While I, admittedly, didn't hate Flowey as much as before, I still saw him as a demonic monster. And I didn't want him to live with the rest of us on the surface.

But then, a few hours ago, Frisk dropped another bombshell on me: Chara's voice is still in their head.

And…Chara…is… _nice_. To a point.

Apparently, Chara came back during Frisk's fight with Asriel in order to persuade them to kill Asriel. But for some reason towards the end of the fight…Chara became silent. Frisk thought that Chara finally had just given up but later when they were talking with the kind version of Asriel…Frisk heard Chara say something quietly.

'Sorry Asriel.'

Ever since, Chara has occasionally actually given Frisk… _helpful_ advice, though Frisk admits that they are rather snarky about it. Chara doesn't pressure Frisk to kill anymore though and lately Chara has been giving Frisk a few genuine compliments. In sort…Chara isn't…a murdering psychopath anymore. I hope. Chara could be just trying lower Frisk's guard enough so that they could have another chance to control them again but somehow…I doubt that.

In any case, after Frisk admitted this to me, they told me that they wanted to bring Flowey topside. Before I could say violently say no, Frisk said that Flowey deserved another chance and that if Chara, slowly but surely, change, why can't Flowey.

And after everything that had happened, from me fighting a possessed Frisk in the Judgement Hall, to me learning about Flowey/Asriel and Chara…how could I say no?

That and I still have yet to find a way to say no when I am face to face with Frisk's cute pout.

"Okay Sans, we're ready to go!" I turned my head to see Frisk standing there, a bright smile on their face as they held a flowerpot with Flowey inside. Hey, just because I am…willing to give Flowey another chance doesn't mean I don't have conditions.

"Do I really have to stay in this flowerpot no matter what?" Flowey started complaining. "It's cramped _and_ embarrassing."

Ya know…I might enjoy having Flowey up on the surface after all.

"Yep…until you can prove yourself to be a model monster citizen that is," I said with a sneer. "But I admit it's going to tough for you. After all…"

I then tapped Flowey's flowerpot.

"It's not like you have room to _grow_ in your cramped flowerpot."

"Oh my…"

"Now now Flowey calm down," Frisk lightly chastised him as the human child patted Flowey's petals. "Remember what you promised!"

"Yeah yeah," muttered Flowey as his face turned into a pout.

"Yea…"

"You too Sans, be nice," Frisk lightly chastised.

Dagnabbit.

"Alright kid, alright…c'mon let's go home before Toriel gets worried," I said as I took my kid's hand. "Or Papyrus for that matter. He's bound to realize soon that I left my hot dog stand, if he hasn't already."

"A hotdog stand? Really? How much money can you get from a hot-dog stand?" jeered Flowey. Before I could make a reply, Frisk chimed in.

"A lot! His hotdogs are really popular with both monsters and humans! _And_ he sometimes does standup comedy at the local night club of which I am not allowed to enter! He really is a great Dunkle!

I really have found my happy ending.

 **And...that's it. Finally, after almost two years...this hard yet wonderful journey is DONE! WOO-HOO! I just want to thank all my readers/reviewers, for it wasn't for your patience, this story will not be ending right now. Really, thank you. As a reward, here are a few fun facts about this story that I think you should know:**

 **1\. Frisk is referred to as a 'they/them' so that you can imagine the kid to be whatever gender you wanted them to be. So if you wanted Frisk to be a boy in this story, you will not be wrong. Same case with a girl and so on. I hope this fun fact makes sense.**

 **2\. The reason Sans can remember past timelines (or the most recent ones) is because of his accident with the time machine.**

 **3\. When Temmie went to the surface, she went to college again for the experience. She was also very popular.**

 **4\. Though Chara might never admit it, the first human is glad that Frisk decided to bring Flowey up to the surface.**

 **5\. The reason Flowey didn't kill Frisk when the kid came to pick them up is because 1) he knew that Sans was in the next room 2) he actually became a whole lot less bloodthirsty after the finale 3) Frisk did the cute pout.**

 **6\. Sans and Frisk didn't tell anyone else about picking up Flowey so when they arrived back to the surface with the flower in tow...the reactions were pretty much what you expect. But it all ended well, with just a few minor delays in construction.**

 **7\. Because of their magic, the monsters are pretty fast builders.**

 **8\. Every Sunday, Alphys, Undyne, Sans, and Papyrus come over to the Dreemurs for dinner and a movie.**

 **9.** **Even though he does work harder than he did in the Underground (hope/happiness will do that to you), Sans still likes to be lazy. It drives Papyrus crazy, though not as much as it did in the Underground. Frisk just rolls their eyes and smiles.**

 **10\. They all really do live happily ever after.**

 **And there you have it! Please leave a review on the way out!**


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